Conforming Loan Limit 2026: How FHFA Set the $832,750 Line — and Why Your Down Payment Decides Which Side You're On
Shopping for a home near $850,000 and wondering whether your mortgage will be "conforming" or "jumbo"?
For most of the country in 2026, the line is $832,750 — and it is drawn on your loan amount, not your home price.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) set that number on November 25, 2025, and it stays in force through December 31, 2026. The 2027 number lands in late November. Here is how the line is set, where it sits higher, and the down-payment math that decides which side of it you land on.
What a Conforming Loan Limit Actually Is
A conforming loan is a mortgage Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac are allowed to buy.
The conforming loan limit (CLL) is the largest loan balance the two government-sponsored enterprises may purchase. A loan at or below the limit for its county — and meeting their other guidelines — is "conforming." A loan above the limit is a "jumbo" loan.
That distinction matters because conforming loans can be sold into the secondary market, which keeps them cheaper and easier to get. Jumbo loans stay with the lender or go to private investors, so they usually carry higher rates and stricter requirements: a larger down payment, a higher credit score, and more cash in reserve. Terms vary by lender, so treat this as the shape of the trade-off, not a quote.
The 2026 Numbers: $832,750 Baseline, $1,249,125 Ceiling
The 2026 baseline is $832,750 for a one-unit home in most U.S. counties — $26,250 more than 2025's $806,500.
Multi-unit properties get higher limits:
In high-cost areas the ceiling is $1,249,125 — 150% of the baseline. Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands get special statutory treatment: a $1,249,125 baseline and a $1,873,675 ceiling for one-unit homes.
The same number ripples into other programs. The Department of Housing and Urban Development set the 2026 FHA loan floor at $541,287 — 65% of the conforming baseline — with a $1,249,125 ceiling in high-cost areas (Mortgagee Letter 2025-23, December 11, 2025).
How FHFA Sets the Number: One House Price Index, Once a Year
The limit moves by the same percentage as average U.S. home prices.
The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) requires FHFA to adjust the baseline every year to reflect the change in the average U.S. home price. FHFA measures that change with its own House Price Index (HPI) — the nominal, seasonally adjusted, expanded-data series — comparing one third quarter with the next.
For 2026, the math was straightforward: house prices rose 3.26% on average between the third quarters of 2024 and 2025, so the baseline rose by the same percentage, from $806,500 to $832,750.
One guardrail is built into the law: the baseline cannot go down. If home prices fall, the limit holds flat. That is why the baseline has never decreased since the formula took effect.
The index behind the number is the same one this blog tracks in its housing data posts — what seasonal adjustment does to a house price index and where to find your city's house price index.
Your County May Have a Higher Limit
If 115% of your area's median home value tops the baseline, your county's limit is higher — up to the $1,249,125 ceiling.
That is how expensive metros end up with limits above the national line: the local median, not the national average, sets the county number. For 2026, FHFA said values rose in all but 32 U.S. counties or county equivalents — so most counties moved up with the baseline, and a small set of high-cost counties sits above it.
Before you assume the baseline applies to you, check your county on FHFA's conforming loan limit page, which publishes the full county list and a map each November.
The Down Payment Decides Which Side of the Line You're On
The limit applies to the loan, not the price — so two buyers can purchase the same house and land on different sides of the line.
Three examples, all using the 2026 baseline of $832,750:
- $860,000 home, 20% down: the loan is $688,000 — comfortably conforming.
- $860,000 home, 3% down: the loan is $834,200 — just $1,450 over the line, so the whole loan becomes jumbo.
- $1,000,000 home, 20% down: the loan is $800,000 — conforming, even though the price is well above the limit.
The practical point: if your loan sits close to the line, a slightly larger down payment — or a slightly lower price — can keep the loan conforming. And because the boundary is exact to the dollar, check the math with your lender before you lock a rate, not after.
The 2027 Number Isn't Out Yet — Here's the Date to Watch
No official 2027 limit exists yet. It lands in late November and takes effect January 1, 2027.
The sequence is fixed. FHFA publishes its third-quarter 2026 House Price Index report on November 24, 2026, and the limit announcement follows in the last week of November — as it has for five straight years (November 25, 2025; November 26, 2024; November 28, 2023; November 29, 2022; November 30, 2021).
Ignore the "2027 limits" some lenders are already advertising. Rocket Mortgage ($845,000), UWM ($847,440), and Pennymac ($850,000) are each honoring their own early number — a lender's policy, not FHFA's. Until FHFA publishes, no 2027 figure is official.
Two things are already certain. First, the 2027 baseline cannot be below $832,750 — the limit never decreases. Second, the latest data points to a smaller increase than 2026's 3.26%: FHFA's August index was up 2.4% from a year earlier. That is a signal, not a forecast — the third-quarter number decides.
If you are closing in early 2027, ask your lender which limit they are underwriting to, and whether the loan would still be conforming if the official number comes in lower than their early figure.
What Happens If Your Loan Goes Over the Line
A jumbo loan is not a rejection — it is a different market, with different pricing.
- Higher rates, usually: without Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as buyers, lenders price the extra risk themselves, so jumbo rates typically run above conforming rates.
- Stricter underwriting: expect a larger down payment, a higher credit score, and more months of cash reserves than a conforming loan requires.
- High-balance is still conforming: in a high-cost county, a loan between the $832,750 baseline and the county's ceiling — up to $1,249,125 — is still a conforming loan, not a jumbo one. The county limit, not the national baseline, is the line that matters there.
FAQ
Do VA loans use the conforming loan limit?
Only when a borrower has partial entitlement left. With full entitlement, no VA loan limit has applied since January 1, 2020. VA's Circular 26-25-10 adopts FHFA's county figure for the partial-entitlement formula.
Does the same limit apply to a refinance?
Yes. The limit applies to the loan balance, so a refinance is measured against the same county limit as a purchase.
Key Takeaway
The conforming loan limit is one number that quietly sorts the mortgage market: $832,750 in most counties for 2026, higher where local home values justify it, redrawn every November from the FHFA House Price Index. The 2027 redraw is about two weeks away — and until FHFA publishes it, every "2027 limit" you see is a lender's guess.
Remember the part the listicles skip: the line is drawn on your loan, not your price — so your down payment, not just your budget, decides which side of it you land on.
Sources
- Federal Housing Finance Agency, "FHFA Announces Conforming Loan Limit Values for 2026," November 25, 2025 — fhfa.gov
- Federal Housing Finance Agency, Conforming Loan Limits — fhfa.gov
- Federal Housing Finance Agency, "FHFA House Price Index Up 0.3 Percent in August; Up 2.4 Percent from Last Year," October 27, 2026 — fhfa.gov
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Mortgagee Letter 2025-23, "2026 Nationwide Forward Mortgage Loan Limits," December 11, 2025
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