Conforming loan limits in 2025

When you get a mortgage, there’s a limit to how much you can borrow. On an individual level, this will be determined by how creditworthy you are and how much you can afford to spend each month.

At the industry level, lenders are limited by how much they can lend to borrowers if they want their loans to conform to the standards set forth by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Conventional loans that meet these standards are called conforming loans.

Anticipating the official announcement from the FHFA in late November, Rocket Mortgage^® is unveiling updated conforming loan limits for 2026. Spoiler alert: Your buying power is increasing.

Why don’t I see other lenders updating conforming limits?

Rocket Mortgage is able to update its loan limits early because loans are sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac up to several months after the loan is closed. Lenders will hold loans on their books until they can be sold to a mortgage investor in the routine course of doing business.

Rocket Mortgage is setting its conforming loans at $825,550 for a one-unit property. In Alaska and Hawaii, the limit for a single-unit home is $1,238,325. You can buy a home with up to four units and the limit increases with each additional unit being purchased. These are the limits that will remain in effect until the FHFA makes its official announcement.

If you currently live in a high-cost county, these limits are remaining unchanged until the FHFA figure comes out at the end of November. These are the loan limits you’ll see on conforming loans from most other lenders until that date.

What is the conforming loan limit?

The FHFA sets conforming loan limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored enterprises that it regulates.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchase mortgages that meet their standards from lenders and then repackage them into mortgage-backed securities for investors. This process gives lenders the liquidity needed to continue providing home buyers with affordable mortgage loans.

Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have additional criteria for the loans they purchase, including minimum credit scores, minimum down payments and maximum debt-to-income ratios (DTI). But in general, when people talk about conforming loan standards, they’re talking about loan limits.

How conforming loan limits work

Conforming loan limits are tied to home prices. Each year, the FHFA updates its baseline loan limit based on its House Price Index (HPI) report, which tracks the average increase in home values over the previous year.

The new loan limits are calculated each year based on third-quarter data from the FHFA HPI. In 2025, the loan limit increase was 5.21%. In 2026, Rocket Mortgage is expecting an increase of about 2.36%.

2025 conventional loan limits

The official 2025 conforming loan limits are the following:

These are officially updated each November with the release of third-quarter Home Price Index data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Conforming loan limits in high-cost areas

Home prices vary quite a bit from state to state, and even from county to county. This makes having a single conforming loan limit for the entire country difficult – after all, it’s hard to compare home prices in rural Ohio to home prices in Manhattan, one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country.

This is why the FHFA has a higher limit for areas it deems to be “high cost,” a designation based on an area’s median home values compared to the baseline conforming loan limit.

The exact conforming loan limit varies depending on the median home value in a given area, up to 150% of the baseline conforming loan limit. To see what the current limit is in your county, use the FHFA’s interactive map.

An example of high-cost area limits

To see what this might look like in practice, let’s say you’re considering buying a $900,000 house in California.

If you were to buy that house in San Bernardino County, which isn’t currently listed as an FHFA high-cost area, you’d likely need to take out a jumbo loan, since you’d be exceeding the $806,500 baseline loan limit.

However, Los Angeles County is traditionally one of the most expensive areas in which to buy a house in the U.S. It's at the top end of the scale ($1,209,750 for a single-unit home). You would be able to buy the house without a jumbo loan.

In addition to being the ceiling in high-cost areas, the highest conforming loan figure for a given number of units is also the loan limit in Alaska and Hawaii.

What to consider before you borrow more than the conforming loan limit

If you’re considering purchasing a home outside of the conforming loan limits, be sure you understand whether you can afford a non-conforming loan and what this type of loan would mean for your finances. The larger the loan is, the higher your monthly payment will be.

This is especially important to consider in high-cost areas. Even with higher loan limits, much of the local inventory could still exceed the high-cost loan ceiling.

Things to consider before using a jumbo loan

What would a jumbo loan mean for your finances? The upfront cost alone can be prohibitive for many borrowers. While conforming loans allow down payments as low as 3%, most jumbo loan borrowers are required to put down a minimum of more than 10%. They’ll also need to have a credit score in the 700s and a DTI of 45% or lower to qualify.

If you’re able to meet these requirements, a jumbo loan may be beneficial for you. But before you enter the home buying process, be sure you know what the loan limits are for your area and that you understand what a conforming versus a non-conforming loan would mean for your financial situation.

The bottom line: Remember loan limits if you’re purchasing a high-cost home

If you plan on purchasing your home with a mortgage and have a sizable home buying budget, it’s important to understand what the maximum loan limits are in your county. While other loan types, such as jumbo loans, can remove the barrier of having to stay within a certain price limit, that means forgoing the benefits of a conforming loan.

Take advantage of higher loan limits starting today! If you’re considering purchasing a home of your own, take action and start your mortgage application with the Home Loan experts at Rocket Mortgage.