What To Know About Home Loan Limits in 2026

Every year, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announces a new loan limit for conforming loans for the upcoming year. These reports typically come at the end of November, and are based on a study conducted by the FHFA. Their findings from these studies are collected into what’s called the House Price Index Report

For 2026, the conforming loan limit for a one-unit home was set at $832,750, a modest $26,250 increase from the 2025 conforming loan limit, which saw a $39,950 increase from 2024. In other words, the loan limit has been on the rise over the past few years, which is a good thing for homebuyers.

But what are conforming loans? What does a one unit home mean? And what does this all mean for the homebuyer in 2026? Let’s break it down piece by piece.

Conforming Loans:

A conforming loan, put simply, is just another name for a conventional loan. More specifically, these loans are backed by government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) who purchase mortgages from lenders. Since these organizations are government sponsored, they are required to follow the limits set by the FHFA. Two prominent GSEs in the mortgage loan market are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

As mentioned in the introduction, the conforming loan limit set in 2026 was $832,750. However, this number represents the loan limit for most of the contiguous United States. For certain areas, classified as high cost areas by the FHFA, the loan limit increases. To check for the loan limit in your specific county, you can click here to check the loan limit map of the United States.

Home Units:

A one unit home refers to a single piece of property with its own utilities and no shared walls. This is important because the loan limits set by the FHFA take into account the number of units in a home. For 2026, the loan limit for housing units goes as follows:

1 unit home → $832,750

2 unit home → $1,066,250

3 unit home → $1,288,800

4 Unit home → $1,601,750

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It’s important to note that these numbers once again represent the loan limit for most of the contiguous United States. For higher income areas, the numbers will look different, and more importantly, higher.

Buying a multi-unit home could be ideal if you just want more space, but could also be used as a way to generate passive income through renting the additional spaces out. If you’d like to learn more about this area of homebuying, commonly referred to as investment property, then you can click here to learn more.

Jumbo Loans:

Examining loan limits for the housing market raises an obvious question. What do you do if you need a loan that’s higher than the limit set by the FHFA? The answer is a jumbo loan.

Jumbo loans are specifically for homebuyers that need a loan that exceeds the loan limit. they aren’t set by the FHFA, but they do change in correlation to new limits set by the FHFA. In other words, just like with the conforming loan limit, the amount you can get out of a jumbo loan has also seen an increase in the past few years.

Just like you’d expect, it’s for homebuyers that want to purchase a home but need a higher loan, whether because the home is just that expensive or because the lot that the property is on drives up the price.

Jumbo loans are harder to qualify for than their conforming counterparts, not just because the size of the loan is bigger, but also because they come with stricter criteria by lenders. Here’s a comparison between the typical criteria for a jumbo loan compared to a conventional loan:

	Jumbo Loan	Conventional Loan
Down Payment	At least 20%	At least 3%
Credit Score	700s range	Around 680 (Dash requires at least 620)
DTI (Debt-to-Income)	45%	36%

Suffice to say, most homebuyers are more likely to qualify for a conventional loan.

While jumbo loans have their uses, their higher risk means higher interest rates. In fact, GSEs like Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac don’t back jumbo loans due to this inherent risk. and as always, a bigger loan means that the homebuyer needs to make sure they have the proper plan to pay it off.

Despite all of this, jumbo loans, just like any loan, have their uses. Maybe taking on a bigger loan to secure your dream home makes the most sense for you. If you’d like to learn more about jumbo loans, or talk to a mortgage coach from Dash Home Loans to see if a jumbo loan is really the best option for you, then you can click here!

Why Max Home Loan Limits Matter for Buyers:

As mentioned at the beginning, the home loan limit has been on the rise over the past couple years. This makes sense as it’s meant to aid buyers as homes rise in price.

As detailed above, a jumbo loan can be risky and difficult for certain homebuyers to qualify for. This fact is exactly why the loan limit increase is advantageous to homebuyers. By raising the limit of conforming loans, more and more homebuyers have the opportunity to take advantage of a more lenient loan option that’s easier to qualify for. In other words, it brings the homeowning dream closer to reality for many.

And to make that dream a full reality, Dash Home Loans can take you the rest of the way! No matter where you are in your homebuying journey, a mortgage coach from Dash will be with you through every step, answering any and all questions you have about the process, and figuring out which path works best for you!

*Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views of my employer.