The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced a 3.26 percent increase in conforming loan limit values (CLLs) for mortgages eligible for purchase by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2026. This uptick is commensurate with annualized changes in the average home price. 

Throughout most of the country, the 2026 CLL value for one-unit properties will be $832,750, representing an increase of $26,250 from 2025. 

National baseline

The FHFA’s third quarter 2025 FHFA House Price Index (FHFA HPI) report included statistics relating to the average home value over the last four quarters. According to the nominal, seasonally adjusted, expanded-data FHFA HPI, house prices increased 3.26 percent, on average, between the third quarters of 2024 and 2025, the agency noted in a press release. Therefore, the baseline CLL in 2026 will increase by the same percentage.  

Per the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA), the FHFA is required to adjust the government-sponsored enterprises’ baseline CLL value each year to reflect the change in the average home price.

High-cost areas 

For areas in which 115 percent of the local median home value exceeds the baseline conforming loan limit value, the applicable loan limit will be higher than the baseline loan limit. 

HERA established the high-cost area limit in those areas as a multiple of the area median home value, while setting the ceiling at 150 percent of the baseline limit. Median home values generally increased in high-cost areas in 2025, which increased their CLL values. The new ceiling loan limit for one-unit properties will be $1,249,125, which is 150 percent of $832,750.  

Special statutory provisions established different loan limits for Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In these areas, the baseline loan limit and the ceiling loan limit for one-unit properties will be $1,249,125 and $1,873,675, respectively.

Due to rising home values, the CLL values will be higher in all but 32 or county equivalents, according to the FHFA.