After years of rising higher, Freddie Mac announced this morning that conventional mortgage loan limits will stay the same in 2007. Loan purchase limits are the maximum original loan amounts allowed on single-family conventional mortgages purchased by Freddie Mac. Look for Fannie Mae to follow Freddie Mac’s lead:

The loan limits for first mortgages will continue to be:

  • $417,000 for mortgages on one-family properties;
  • $533,850 for mortgages on two-family properties;
  • $645,300 for mortgages on three-family properties;
  • $801,950 for mortgages on four-family properties.

The loan limit for subordinate lien mortgage loans (home equity loans or second mortgages) remains at half of the 1-unit loan limit for first mortgages, or $208,500.

As the Freddie Mac press release notes, maximum original loan amounts are 50 percent higher for first mortgages on properties in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the US Virgin Islands, according to Freddie Mac’s charter.

The best rates and fees available go to mortgages that fall inside the “conventional” world. That means, you can buy a property for a little more than $500,000, if you have a 20 percent down payment, and still fall within the scope of a conventional mortgage.

For more information, check out www.freddiemac.com.

November 28, 2006