| WASHINGTON,
DC -- Fannie Mae (FNM/NYSE) today announced that it will apply new
conforming loan limits, as determined by the Office of Federal Housing
Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) based on federal data on mean (average)
home prices, to increase its single-family mortgage loan limit to
$417,000 for 2006.
As a result of the new loan limit, Fannie Mae estimates that in
2006, as many as an additional 466,326 homeowners would be eligible
for a conforming loan.
Conforming loan limits may adjust annually. The conforming loan
limits adjustments are based on the October-to-October changes in
the mean (average) home price, as published by the Federal Housing
Finance Board (FHFB). The FHFB figures come from its monthly survey
of lenders. Both new and existing homes are included in the survey.
Limits for multi-unit loans for 2006 will be as follows: two-family
loans $533,850, three-family loans $645,300, and four-family loans
$801,950. The 2006 loan limit for second mortgages will be $208,500.
The maximum amounts for one-to-four-family mortgages and second
mortgages in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands are
50 percent higher than the limits for the rest of the country.
Most loans Fannie Mae purchases are well below the conforming limit.
Our average loan size for single-family properties in the first
three quarters of 2005 is about $172,000.
Fannie Mae is a New York Stock Exchange Company. It operates pursuant
to a federal charter. Fannie Mae has pledged through its American
Dream Commitment to expand access to homeownership for millions
of first-time home buyers; help raise the minority homeownership
rate to 55 percent; make homeownership and rental housing a success
for millions of families at risk of losing their homes; and expand
the supply of affordable housing where it is needed most.
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