The National Association of Realtors supports the FHFA’s decision to increase the loan limit on conforming loans to $484,350 in 2019, from $453,100. In addition, the high-cost limit will rise to $726,525, from $679,650. As a result, loan limits will be higher in all but 47 counties or county equivalents across the country beginning on January 1.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's limits define the maximum one-unit single-family mortgage amounts that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may finance and are also used to define the loan limits for the Federal Housing Administration's program. Each year, the FHFA updates the national and high-cost limits based on its national price index.

These limits are important for funding home sales in high-cost coastal markets in California, Virginia, and Maryland. They are gaining importance in other markets, including Nashville, Denver, Utah and Wyoming.

The decision reflects rising or near record high home prices in many markets: If the loan limits didn’t keep up with home price growth, borrowers across the country risk being pushed out of the market altogether as mortgage rates and rising home prices continue to hold back potential homebuyers," said John Smaby, president of NAR, and a second-generation agent and broker at Edina Realty.

The market for private financing has improved but remains hobbled since the Great Recession, requiring more onerous standards of would-be homebuyers who do not possess pristine credit, or they face higher rates than those charged by the enterprises.