Last week Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made it easier for buyers in high-priced areas like New York to get big loans or re-fi their existing ones. Limits for federally backed loans in 70 counties across the U.S. have now been raised to $729,750, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal. The move is supposed to encourage lenders to to drop rates on jumbo loans (those over $417,000), which have soared above smaller loan amounts in the wake of the credit crunch. The loan-limit increase, however, will be short-lived: It’s set to expire at the end of this year. Still, this should do more to prop up the economy than tax rebate checks.
Fannie, Freddie Loan Limits Raised [WSJ]
Photo by *andrew.