For a pdf version of the new loan limits for 2009 click on the link below. If you live in an area where current rates are higher, you may want to look at buying or refinancing now.

http://www.fhfa.gov/GetFile.aspx?FileID=134

  Here is the summary of how the new rates were calculated.

 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conforming loan limits for the high cost areas below may not exceed the corresponding levels listed. These loan limits apply to

loans purchased between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009. For a one-unit property, the maximum loan limit is calculated as 1.15 times the median

house price for the highest priced county in the property's metropolitan or micropolitan area or the median house price for the property's county if it is in a

rural county. Regardless of the area median home price, the loan limit cannot, in general, exceed $625,500 (1.50 times the 2009 conforming loan limit). The

exceptions are properties in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and the Virgin Islands, where that range is 50 percent higher ($625,500 to $938,250). The 2009

conforming loan limit of $417,000 is in place everywhere else. Loan limits for 2-4 unit properties are proportional to the 1-unit limits.

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