FHA Loan Limits updated for 2020

Published December 4, 2019 by Megan Booth

As expected, FHA published its 2020 loan limits on December 3, 2019. Mortgagee Letter 2019-19(link is external) includes links to all the limits, with the high-cost limit the same as the GSE limit at $765,600. The FHA floor (the lowest FHA limit) also rose to $331,760. Nearly every county in the country saw an increase in their loan limits.

Local Limits

Credit:927th Air Refueling Wing
Copyright:Public Domain — A KC-135R Stratotanker assigned to the 6th Air Refueling Wing, 91st Air Refueling Squadron, at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., flies a training mission over central Florida. The KC-135’s principal mission is air refueling while four turbofans, mounted under 35-degree swept wings, power the KC-135 to takeoffs at gross weights up to 322,500 pounds.
(U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt Keith Reed)

In Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, and Pinellas Counties, our new limits for a Single Family Home are all identical:

$331,760 for the FHA Forward Program
$765,600.00 for an HECM (Reverse Mortgage)
$510,400.00 for Fannie / Freddie

That’s a nice increase in your borrowing and buying power!

Questions about which program is right for you? Call me and I will connect you with a great Mortgage Broker!

The way that loan limits are calculated, all counties within the same Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) benefit from the highest limit in that MSA. Over the last year, the government changed some definitions of MSAs. The result is that 11 counties, who were removed from their nearest MSA, will see decreases in their loan limits. View the list of 11 counties(link is external) showing decreases in their loan limits.

Communities that wish to contest their loan limit only have 30 days to do so by contacting by providing the Santa Ana Homeownership Center with sufficient housing sales price data, listing one-family properties sold in an area within the look-back period, January through August of the previous year. Requests should differentiate between single-family residential properties, and condominiums or cooperative housing units. Ideally, the data provided should also distinguish between distressed and non-distressed sales. Requests for a change will only be considered for counties for which HUD does not already have home sales transaction data for the calculation of Mortgage limits.