Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Tribune News Service
Tribune News Service
Business
Jennifer Epstein

US government to back mortgages of more than $1 million

The federal government plans to back mortgages of more than $1 million, catching up with the dramatic rise in U.S. home prices in recent years.

The 2023 limit for mortgages on single-family homes in high-cost areas, such as parts of New York and California, will be $1.089 million, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said in a statement Tuesday. That threshold, for loans to be acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is up from the 2022 limit of $970,800.

For most of the U.S., the limit on Fannie and Freddie-backed loans will be $726,200, up from $647,200 this year.

The pandemic boom pushed house prices higher across the U.S. as buyers competed for properties. While the market has started to cool, prices in September were still up from a year earlier, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index showed Tuesday.

Fannie and Freddie don’t make mortgages. They buy them from lenders, wrap them into securities and guarantee repayment of principal and interest to investors. The federal government took control of the companies during the 2008 financial crisis and bailed them out as mortgage defaults mounted.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.