New permanent limits on the maximum mortgage amount insured by the Federal Housing Administration will take effect Thursday.
In the Tri-Cities and many other markets in Washington, the limit on a one-family home will increase 35.4 percent from $200,160 to $271,050, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Higher-cost markets such as Seattle will have higher limits.
This is the first time since January 2007 that permanent FHA limits have been raised nationwide, according to HUD. The new limits replace the temporary ones that went into effect with the economic stimulus act passed earlier in 2008.
Through the first 11 months of 2008, FHA insured 27,855 mortgage in the state with a value of nearly $6.4 billion. It’s the third best year since FHA’s creation in the 1930’s, HUD said.