A new report over at MarketWatch.com indicates that only a handful of US counties will see the higher end of the new loan limits stipulated in the recently passed economic stimulus package. Thankfully, most counties don’t need to reach the high end to help people. Here is an excerpt:
ORLANDO, Fla. (MarketWatch) — Only 15 counties in the U.S. have a median house price high enough to qualify for the temporary increase in the maximum loan limits called for in the economic stimulus package, an indication that the big jump may not help as many home buyers and refinancers as originally expected.
The National Association of Home Builders had hoped that as many as 29 metropolitan areas would qualify for the new $729,725 ceiling. But according to a staff member at the group’s convention in Orlando last week, it now appears that less than 10 will make it.
The NAHB has been saying that more than 3 million additional owner-occupied houses will be eligible for what are now being called “jumbo conforming” loans that can be purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored enterprises charged with brining liquidity to the mortgage market.
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