Tiny shifts at the margins will help first time buyers in this market. As mortgage rates appear to be slated for possible increases in 2022, buyers need all the help they can get. Enter Fannie Mae!
As of December 16th, now buyers will be able to borrow up to roughly $650,000 and have the looser lending restrictions of Fannie Mae. This is up from $548,000, an 18% increase. What it means in our market is that it will be easier for first-time buyers to borrow. And given that many one-bedrooms are in this $600-800,000 price point, this borrowing limit hits their sweek spot! Great news. You can read a little more here.
Thanks, Fannie Mae! Helping to keep our market going with higher lending limits.
Opening up lending to Fannie Mae underwriting should speed up the lending process, too. Banks have gotten more and more strict, to the point where some of our customers are opting to simply pay cash, despite historically low mortgage rates.
I’ll write about it in a different post, but the short version is that I expect a FLOOD of first-time buyers whose rent just jumped 30-40% from COVID low rents. And when that happens, those buyers will be thrilled to have extremely low rates readily available. Just another item to help keep our market booming. -Scott