FHA Loan Requirements
Whether you're a first-time homebuyer, moving to a new home, or want to refinance your existing conventional or FHA mortgage, the FHA loan program will let you purchase a home with a low down payment and flexible guidelines.
- The Facts About FHA Credit Requirements and FICO® Scores
- Do FHA Loan Requirements Apply to All Borrowers?
- Your FHA Loan Credit Qualifications
FHA Limits for Announced!
FHA loan limits were established to define how much you can borrow for a HUD-backed mortgage. Each state has different limits, so be sure to look up your state to understand what is available for your FHA home loan.
For , the FHA floor was set at $498,257 for single-family home loans. This minimum lending amount covers most U.S. counties. The FHA ceiling represents the maximum loan amount and is illustrated in the table below.
FHA Limits (low cost areas) | |||
Single | Duplex | Tri-plex | Four-plex |
---|---|---|---|
$498,257 | $637,950 | $771,125 | $958,350 |
Also for 2024, the FHA ceiling was set at $1,149,825 for single-family home loans. This represents the highest amount that a borrower can get through the FHA loan program. It applies to high cost areas in the United States and is illustrated in the table below.
FHA Limits (high cost areas) | |||
Single | Duplex | Tri-plex | Four-plex |
---|---|---|---|
$1,149,825 | $1,472,250 | $1,779,525 | $2,211,600 |
Down Payment Grants for FHA Loans
Paying the upfront costs of buying a new home can be challenging. To help overcome this hurdle, many local and state agencies offer down payment assistance in the form of grants or second mortgages.
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FHA Loan Articles and Mortgage News
March 28, 2024 - What home loan terms are important for first-time home buyers to know? The answers may surprise you. We aren’t talking about the basic definitions of escrow or loan limits. Instead, we are reviewing mortgage loan terms that are similar to others.
March 23, 2024 - Which FHA home loans require escrow? That’s a trick question since all FHA loans typically involve some form of escrow for different reasons. What do you need to know about escrow and when it’s needed for your FHA home loan?
March 22, 2024 - President Joe Biden has floated an idea that could make it much more affordable to buy a home, especially in the current interest rate environment which is still (at press time) trying to find its way to a recovery.
March 20, 2024 - Conventional loans are administered by the financial institutions they originate from, and because of that, the standardization found among those loans is typically caused by a combination of state and federal law, industry standards, and other variables.
March 17, 2024 - How do you know you are ready to buy a house with an FHA mortgage? By this we don’t mean that you have saved up your down payment, gotten your credit in order, and have a plan to manage your finances with the new mortgage payment.
March 14, 2024 - Some loan types allow you to pay 20% down to avoid mortgage insurance altogether. Other loan types may allow you to make a larger down payment and stop paying mortgage insurance after 11 years. Other loans have no program-required mortgage insurance guidelines at all.
March 13, 2024 - FHA home loan down payments are typically lower than many conventional mortgage equivalents, especially if you can’t afford the 20% down needed to avoid conventional private mortgage insurance, which is required on a conventional mortgage.
March 12, 2024 - Some want to build a home from the ground up, and that job requires an FHA One-Time Close construction loan. Others want to renovate an existing home using an FHA rehabilitation mortgage or its refinance equivalent.
March 10, 2024 - Roughly 20 million Americans have purchased manufactured housing, and most government-backed mortgage loan programs offer some type of home loan for these borrowers. That includes the FHA, which offers these types of home loans.
March 8, 2024 - FHA loans, in particular, have benefitted from the early attempts at a housing recovery in today’s market. CNBC said purchase volume – particularly for FHA loans – was up strongly in week-to-week comparisons.
Homebuyer Terminology
If you’re getting ready to shop around for mortgage options, it’s a good idea to brush up on some of the technical terms in our Mortgage Glossary. You’re going to be hearing a lot of them!