The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 changed Fannie Mae's charter to expand the definition of a "conforming" loan. Effective with the November 2008 release of the conforming loan limits, two sets of limits are provided for first mortgages -- general conforming loan limits, and high-cost area conforming loan limits.

The conforming loan limits apply to all conventional mortgages that are delivered to Fannie Mae on or after January 1, 2009. Please note that the 2009 general conforming loan limits are identical to the 2006, 2007, and 2008 conforming loan limits. The high-cost areas are determined by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The company may purchase loans up to $625,500 in designated high-cost areas.

	Maximum Original Principal Balance
Units	Contiguous States, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico		Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, and the U.S. Virgin Islands
	General	High-Cost*	General	High-Cost*
1	$417,000	$625,500	$625,500	$938,250
2	$533,850	$800,775	$800,775	$1,201,150
3	$645,300	$967,950	$967,950	$1,451,925
4	$801,950	$1,202,925	$1,202,925	$1,804,375

*The limit may be lower for a specific high-cost area; use the Loan Limit Look-Up Table above to see limits by location.