2026 Conforming Loan Limits by County: $832,750 Baseline, $1,601,750 for Four Units, 2027 Not Yet Out

What FHFA announced for 2026, and what is not out yet for 2027

FHFA's news release of November 25, 2025 says: “In most of the United States, the 2026 CLL value for one-unit properties will be $832,750, an increase of $26,250 from 2025.” It adds that “house prices increased 3.26 percent, on average, between the third quarters of 2024 and 2025. Therefore, the baseline CLL in 2026 will increase by the same percentage.” The addendum shows the unrounded figure, 3.25735384 percent, and says the same percentage applies to the two-, three- and four-unit baselines, which become $1,066,250, $1,288,800 and $1,601,750.

For high-cost areas the release says the ceiling for one-unit properties “will be $1,249,125, which is 150 percent of $832,750.” For Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands it gives a baseline of $1,249,125 and a ceiling of $1,873,675. FHFA's frequently-asked-questions sheet says the limit “takes effect a month later, on Jan. 1,” so the 2026 list applies to calendar year 2026.

2027 is not announced. FHFA's conforming loan limit page, which we read on November 14, 2026 and which shows “Page last updated: October 14, 2026”, lists only the 2026 file under “Conforming Loan Limits for Calendar Year 2026 -- All Counties”. The release dates for the last five sets of limits:

Each release says the agency published its third-quarter house price index report “earlier today” and that the baseline moves by that index's change. That is the mechanism, not a forecast: we do not publish a 2027 number, because the index figure that sets it is not out. The date pattern says to expect the announcement in the last days of November 2026. Any 2027 limit you see quoted before that is not an FHFA figure and does not bind Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

The four tiers in the county file

The file lists every county and county equivalent with a one-, two-, three- and four-unit limit. We read the minimum and maximum of each column.

The two-unit baseline is 1.28 times the one-unit one, the three-unit 1.55 times and the four-unit 1.92 times: FHFA's addendum gives the multiples as 1.28021583, 1.54748201 and 1.92314149. The gap between a one-unit and a four-unit limit is the reason this table matters to a landlord. At baseline a four-unit building can carry $1,601,750 of conforming debt, $769,000 more than a single-family house (our arithmetic).

Our census: 3,196 standard-area counties, 3,075 at baseline

We loaded FHFA's 2026 county file (3,235 rows) and set aside the 39 rows for Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, whose baseline is $1,249,125. Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands and the District of Columbia are in the standard group.

Only 121 of 3,196 rows (3.79%, our arithmetic) get more than the baseline. Seventeen states plus the District of Columbia have at least one:

The other 34 standard-area states and territories have every county at $832,750, including Texas (254 counties), Georgia (159), Illinois (102) and Arizona (15), and also Hennepin County, Minnesota. Connecticut counts as 9 planning regions in the 2026 file, not 8 counties as in 2025, and Virginia's 133 rows include independent cities.

The 38 ceiling counties. California: Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, Marin, Orange, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz. Virginia: Alexandria, Arlington, Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax (county and city), Falls Church, Fauquier, Fredericksburg, Loudoun, Manassas, Manassas Park, Prince William, Rappahannock, Spotsylvania, Stafford and Warren. Maryland: Charles, Frederick, Montgomery and Prince George's. Massachusetts: Dukes and Nantucket. Single counties: Eagle (Colorado), the District of Columbia, Teton (Idaho), Jefferson (West Virginia) and Teton (Wyoming). Each has a one-, two-, three- and four-unit limit of $1,249,125, $1,599,375, $1,933,200 and $2,402,625.

The 83 counties between baseline and ceiling

These are the counties a borrower can miss if they assume “high-cost” means the ceiling. We grouped them by limit.

Two things stand out. The 22 New Jersey and New York counties in the top row, which include Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Kings, Nassau, Queens, Suffolk and Westchester, are held at $1,209,750, a number that was the national ceiling in 2025 and is $39,375 below the 2026 ceiling (our arithmetic). FHFA's addendum says that “the 2026 CLL values reflect the higher of the limit values calculated for 2026 under the HERA formula and the HERA loan limit values for the years 2009 through 2025.” Their formula values did not rise past the old ceiling, so the old ceiling carries over. And three counties jumped from the baseline: Lake and Moffat counties in Colorado and Hickman County, Tennessee, moved from the $806,500 baseline to $1,092,500, $1,089,050 and $1,029,250, increases of $286,000, $282,550 and $222,750. Our county table has all 244 rows.

Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the Virgin Islands

FHFA says: “Special statutory provisions establish different loan limits for Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.” The release gives a one-unit baseline of $1,249,125 and a ceiling of $1,873,675 for those areas. In the file, all 30 Alaska rows, Guam and the three Virgin Islands rows are at $1,249,125 ($1,599,375 for two units, $2,402,625 for four). In Hawaii, Hawaii, Honolulu and Kauai counties are at $1,249,125, while Maui and Kalawao are at $1,299,500, with two-, three- and four-unit limits of $1,663,600, $2,010,950 and $2,499,100. American Samoa (5 rows) and the Northern Mariana Islands (4 rows) are listed at the $832,750 baseline, not at the special baseline.

2025 against 2026, row by row

We also loaded FHFA's 2025 county file (3,234 rows). Matching on state and county code, 3,226 rows appear in both files: 3,195 have a higher one-unit limit in 2026, 31 are unchanged (New Jersey 12, New York 10, Colorado 3, California 2, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Utah and Virginia one each) and none is lower. Connecticut moved from 8 counties to 9 planning regions, which is why 9 rows in 2026 and 8 rows in 2025 do not match. FHFA's release puts it as “the CLL values will be higher in all but 32 U.S. counties or county equivalents.” In 2025, 115 standard-area counties were above the $806,500 baseline and 64 were at the $1,209,750 ceiling; in 2026, 121 are above baseline and 38 are at the ceiling, because the ceiling rose to $1,249,125 while 27 of the 2025 ceiling counties stayed at $1,209,750 (our arithmetic).

What “conforming”, “high-balance” and “jumbo” mean

FHFA defines the line this way: “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are restricted by law to purchasing single-family mortgages with origination balances below a specific amount, known as the “conforming loan limit” (CLL). Loans above this amount are known as jumbo loans.”

Fannie Mae's Selling Guide, section B2-1.5-01, Loan Limits (dated February 2, 2022, on a Guide published November 4, 2026), says: “Fannie Mae can only purchase loans up to a certain dollar amount. This dollar amount is known as the conforming loan limit.” It continues: “The limits are subject to change annually and vary, depending upon the number of units in the property and the property's location.” The Guide splits them in two: “The baseline limits apply to the majority of the loans that Fannie Mae purchases” and “The high-cost area loan limits apply to loans secured by properties in designated high-cost areas.” Then: “High-balance loans are subject to the high-cost area loan limits.”

So in plain terms: a conforming loan is at or under the county's limit; a high-balance loan is a conforming loan above the $832,750 baseline, in a county where the limit is higher; a jumbo loan is anything above the county's limit. Fannie Mae's Guide section B5-1-01 says high-balance loans “must meet the LTV, CLTV, and HCLTV ratios as outlined in the Eligibility Matrix” and that “All loans must be underwritten through DU.” That is the practical cost of being a high-balance loan: the rules are not looser.

Two more lines of the Guide matter to the timing. “The loan limits apply to all conventional loans delivered to Fannie Mae for whole loan purchase or MBS pool issuance and are based on the original loan amount of the loan (irrespective of the origination date).” And lenders are responsible for the limit “for the specific area in which the property is located at the time the loan is delivered to Fannie Mae.” If you close in December 2026 and the lender delivers in January 2027, ask which year's limit the lender is using.

Why the two- to four-unit limit matters to an investor

The limit is a ceiling on the loan, not a rule about the price. It is the same for an owner-occupant and a landlord. What changes with occupancy is everything else. Fannie Mae's B2-1.1-01, Occupancy Types (November 4, 2026), says an investment property “is a property that is not occupied by the borrower as a principal residence or second home,” that that a second home must “be a one-unit dwelling,” and that “An LLPA applies to all loans secured by an investment property,” a price adjustment on top of any others. Two- to four-unit buildings bought to rent are therefore investment-property loans under Fannie's rules; one you live in is a principal-residence loan. The maximum LTV and credit-score rules for each case are in the Eligibility Matrix, which we could not read on November 14, 2026 because Fannie Mae's site refused our request, so this page gives no LTV figure. Ask the lender for it in writing.

What we can do is show where the limit binds. Worked examples (our arithmetic; the down payments are illustrations, not Fannie Mae requirements):

A duplex at $1,400,000 in a baseline county with 20% down needs a $1,120,000 loan, which is $53,750 above the $1,066,250 limit. To stay conforming the buyer must put down at least $333,750, which is 23.84% of the price. The same duplex in Bergen County, New Jersey, has a two-unit limit of $1,548,975, so the limit is not the constraint there; the LTV rules are. A fourplex at $2,500,000 in a baseline county cannot be financed conforming at any down payment under $898,250 (the price less the $1,601,750 limit).

Our pages on these loans: conventional loans on an investment property, house hacking, investment property loans in 2026, multifamily loan rates and DSCR loan requirements.

What a reader can do with this

1. Look up the county, then the unit count. Find the county in FHFA's 2026 file (linked below) and read the column for your building: one, two, three or four units. Do not use the headline $832,750 for a duplex.
2. Check whether you are in a “between” county. In 83 counties the limit is above baseline and below $1,249,125. A loan officer who says “high-cost” may still be quoting the wrong number; compare with the table above.
3. Compare your loan with the limit, not your price. Loan amount = price less down payment. A smaller loan from a larger down payment can pull a deal under the limit.
4. Ask which year's limit the lender uses. FHFA's 2027 limits take effect January 1, 2027 and Fannie Mae applies the limit at delivery. A loan that closes in the last weeks of 2026 and is delivered in 2027 may be tested against the new number.
5. If the loan is over the limit, your options change, not disappear. A bigger down payment, a high-balance loan where the county allows one, a jumbo or portfolio loan, or a loan underwritten on the property's rent instead of your income, which is a different product with its own rules. See our DSCR requirements page.
6. Re-check on the day FHFA announces 2027. The new file replaces this table. We will update the census when it is out.

If your purchase will not fit a conforming loan, these are lenders built for investor loans on one to four units:

FAQ

This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.

Sources: FHFA, “FHFA Announces Conforming Loan Limit Values for 2026” (news release, November 25, 2025), and the releases for 2022 to 2025 (November 30, 2021, November 29, 2022, November 28, 2023, November 26, 2024); FHFA, “Calculating 2026 Conforming Loan Limit Values Under HERA” (addendum) and the 2026 Conforming Loan Limit FAQs (updated November 2025); FHFA, Conforming Loan Limits page (last updated October 14, 2026) and the full county loan limit lists for 2026 and 2025 (XLSX and CSV), all downloaded November 14, 2026 from fhfa.gov; Fannie Mae Selling Guide sections B2-1.5-01 (Loan Limits), B2-1.1-01 (Occupancy Types) and B5-1-01 (High-Balance Mortgage Loan Eligibility and Underwriting), Guide published November 4, 2026, read November 14, 2026. Fannie Mae's Eligibility Matrix could not be retrieved (HTTP 403) and is not used. The census, shares, differences and worked examples are our arithmetic on the county files. HUD/FHA loan limits are a separate set and are not covered here; see our house hacking page.