Housing.com News, Analysis & Opinion: Home Mortgages: Fannie and Freddie Get Richer

The "conforming loan limit" of mortgages that can be sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac just got kicked up a notch.

I wonder what the rationale for this is....$417,000 still doesn't match the median home prices of bubblicious markets like D.C., the Bay Area, etc., but with prices dropping, that might keep ownership as a viable option for people that want to stay in the market, but can't handle the increased interest rates. Or maybe it's a boon to state governments who want to foreclose on all those jumbo-mortgaged properties and then sell them to Fannie and Freddie for a song.

Or perhaps it's a test bubble for the already-maligned mortgage interest deduction revisions from Bush's tax panel.

Or perhaps it's yet another part of the government's efforts to sustain the housing boom via pushing building and construction efforts to the Midwest. $417,000 will get you a nice little manse in the Sun Belt, that's for damn sure.

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The "conforming loan limit" of mortgages that can be sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac just got kicked up a notch. I wonder what the rationale for this is....$417,000 still doesn't match the median home prices of bubblicious markets like D.C., the Bay Area, etc., but with prices dropping, that might keep ownership as a viable option for people that want to stay in the market, but can't handle the increased interest rates. Or maybe it's a boon to state governments who want to foreclose on all those jumbo-mortgaged properties and then sell them to Fannie and Freddie for a song. Or perhaps it's a test bubble for the already-maligned mortgage interest deduction revisions from Bush's tax panel. Or perhaps it's yet another part of the government's efforts to sustain the housing boom via pushing building and construction efforts to the Midwest. $417,000 will get you a nice little manse in the Sun Belt, that's for damn sure. Ah, the conspiracy theories....