By Thomas C. Schultheis
2019 President
Santa Barbara Association of REALTORS®
The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that it is raising the conforming loan limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to $510,400 on one-unit properties and a cap of $765,600 in high-cost areas. The previous loan limits were $484,350 and $726,525, respectively.
While this is great news for homebuyers in general, Santa Barbara County maintained a lower conforming loan limit ($625,500) rather than the maximum for high-cost areas ($765,600). This is problematic for homebuyers in South Santa Barbara County because of the high costs of homes.