In our market in the Washington, DC area, which has higher-priced homes, we rarely see FHA loans.

But this has all changed yesterday.  HUD has announced new higher FHA loan limits, which will be calculated at 125 percent of the HUD-published median prices for an area.  The new limits will obviously vary by metropolitan area, and in the highest-priced areas will now be capped at $729,750.

This is huge news for real estate because it will mean more money in the mortgage market to make loans available to consumers for purchases and re-fi's.

I'm still waiting to learn when the new limits will actually be implemented by banks, so we can notify all our fence-sitting Clarksburg buyers!