The Federal Housing Finance Agency has announced the maximum conforming loan limits for mortgages to be acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2015.
For much of the country, the conforming loan limit for a one-unit property (or single-family home) will remain at $417,000 for 2015.
However, in 46 counties the conforming loan limit will rise because those counties experienced increases in local home values.
According to the FHFA, the areas that will see conforming loan limit increases include the Denver, Colorado metro area; the Boston, Massachusetts metro area; the Baltimore, Maryland metro area; the Nashville, Tennessee metro area and the Seattle, Washington area.
In the Boston-area counties of Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, Rockingham, Strafford and Suffolk, the conforming loan limit will rise from $470,350 to $517,500, an increase of $47,150. That increase represents the largest increase for any county in the country.
In Ventura County, California, which includes Oxnard, Thousand Oaks and Ventura, the conforming loan limit will first from $598,000 to $603,750.
In Napa County, California, which includes Napa, the conforming loan limit will rise from $592,250 to $615,250, an increase of $23,000.
In Boulder County, Colorado, which includes Boulder, the conforming loan limit will rise from $417,000 to $456,550, an increase of $39,550.
According to the FHFA, the loan limits are established under the terms of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 and are calculated each year.
“Although other counties experienced home value increases in 2014, after other elements of the HERA formula were accounted for the local-area limits were left unchanged,” the FHFA said.
Click here to see the rest of the counties that will see an increase in their conforming loan limits in 2015.
Click here to see the full list of the conforming loan limit for every country in the U.S.