FHA Mortgage Limits Increased in Kansas City

In an effort to keep pace with rising home prices, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has approved higher loan limits for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured mortgages in the metropolitan Kansas City Area. FHA, a division of HUD, helped more than one million families around the country qualify for mortgages in 1999.

FHA-insured loans are now available as high as $164,350 for single-family mortgages in the Kansas City area. The previous loan limit was $153,615. Heartland MLS of Johnson County, through the James B. Nutter and Company of Kansas City, Missouri, submitted the supporting data that resulted in HUD's approval of the higher loan limits. The metro area covers Johnson, Leavenworth, Miami, and Wyandotte Counties in Kansas; and Cass, Clay, Clinton, Jackson, Lafayette, Platte, and Ray Counties in Missouri.

Under President Clinton's Homeownership initiative, higher loan limits has been a top priority because it enables more families to become homeowners. Many potential homebuyers have the income to afford monthly mortgage payments but do not meet down payment and creditworthiness qualifications under conventional or private mortgage insurance underwriting guidelines. FHA does not make mortgage loans directly, but rather insures loans made by private lenders to homebuyers. FHA insurance guarantees the lender timely payment of principal and interest, in the event the homebuyer defaults on the loan. Because FHA mortgage insurance protects lenders from losses, it has enabled millions of Americans who would otherwise be locked out of the mortgage market and homeownership, to qualify for mortgages.