Tweet
By MICHAEL POLLICK
H.R. 5140 on Thomas
Lobbyists for mortgage lenders and builders got nowhere trying to beef up the loan limit provisions contained within the economic stimulus legislation that the U.S. Senate considered on Wednesday.
The overall $158 billion economic stimulus plan drafted by Senate Democrats was blocked by a Republican filibuster Wednesday night when the Senate fell a single vote short of the 60 needed to consider the measure.
The Mortgage Bankers Association was pushing for a nationwide, across-the-board increase in the conforming loan limit to $625,000 from the current $417,000, and the National Association of Home Builders was trying for a two-year extension of any higher loan limits that Congress adopts, instead of letting the new limits fade away at the end of 2008. Neither succeeded.
Though the legislation is still percolating, the Senate thus far has left untouched the House loan limit provisions, according to David Crowe, senior vice president of the National Association of Home Builders in Washington, D.C.
The House bill would set up a new system for determining the local ceiling on a Fannie Mae conventional loan based on the median home prices that prevail in a given metro area.
For most communities in the nation, including Sarasota-Bradenton, where the median home prices are less than $336,100, the current $417,000 conventional loan limit would remain in place.
Regarding the Fannie Mae limits, it turns out that “Naples is actually the only city in Florida that we calculate would get a boost,” Crowe said.
On the positive side for home buyers and sellers, limits for Federal Housing Administration loans on owner-occupied dwellings would rise substantially in Sarasota-Bradenton under the current legislation — to $296,875 versus the present $225,625 — under the proposed legislation.
Last modified: February 07. 2008 10:13AM
The overall $158 billion economic stimulus plan drafted by Senate Democrats was blocked by a Republican filibuster Wednesday night when the Senate fell a single vote short of the 60 needed to consider the measure.
The Mortgage Bankers Association was pushing for a nationwide, across-the-board increase in the conforming loan limit to $625,000 from the current $417,000, and the National Association of Home Builders was trying for a two-year extension of any higher loan limits that Congress adopts, instead of letting the new limits fade away at the end of 2008. Neither succeeded.
Though the legislation is still percolating, the Senate thus far has left untouched the House loan limit provisions, according to David Crowe, senior vice president of the National Association of Home Builders in Washington, D.C.
The House bill would set up a new system for determining the local ceiling on a Fannie Mae conventional loan based on the median home prices that prevail in a given metro area.
For most communities in the nation, including Sarasota-Bradenton, where the median home prices are less than $336,100, the current $417,000 conventional loan limit would remain in place.
Regarding the Fannie Mae limits, it turns out that “Naples is actually the only city in Florida that we calculate would get a boost,” Crowe said.
On the positive side for home buyers and sellers, limits for Federal Housing Administration loans on owner-occupied dwellings would rise substantially in Sarasota-Bradenton under the current legislation — to $296,875 versus the present $225,625 — under the proposed legislation.
Last modified: February 07. 2008 10:13AM
Comment