Atlanta FHA loan limits for 2015 are slightly higher than last year, and slightly higher than the median sale price for the metro area. This is based on HUD’s current loan limits for FHA-insured mortgage loans, as well as recent analysis of the Atlanta real estate market and home prices. Here’s what you should know if you’re planning to use an FHA loan to buy a house in the Atlanta metro area.
Atlanta FHA Loan Limits for 2015
Mortgage loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration offer certain advantages for borrowers, such as a low down payment. But they’re not for everyone. For instance, if you’re looking at high-end homes on the upper end of the price spectrum, an Atlanta FHA loan is probably not the best choice for you. These mortgage products have caps in place that restrict the amount of money you can borrow.
FHA loan limits vary by county, and they are updated every year. They are established by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Here are the current FHA loan limits for the Atlanta metro area in 2015:
| 1-Family | 2-Family | 3-Family | 4-Family |
|---|---|---|---|
| $342,700 | $438,700 | $530,300 | $659,050 |
Notes: In this context, a “one-family” property is a regular single-family home. The other columns apply to multifamily properties like duplexes and triplexes. The FHA loan limits shown above apply to the entire Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA metro area, including all of Fulton County and DeKalb County.
A Slight Increase Over Last Year
As mentioned earlier, the 2015 FHA limits for Atlanta and the rest of Fulton County are slightly higher than last year’s caps. The maximum loan size for a single-family home is currently $342,700, an increase of nearly $22,000 from last year’s single-family limit of $320,850.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development raised Atlanta’s FHA loan limits at the start of 2015 in response to rising home values across the metro area. By their estimation, the median sale price at the start of this year was $298,000.
According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, house values in the Atlanta metro area rose by 5.6% between February 2014 and February 2015 (the most recent data available at the time of publication). The real estate information service Zillow reported and even larger year-over-year gain for this market. According to Zillow, Atlanta home prices rose 13% over the last year or so (when measured from April 2014 - April 2015).
However you slice it, it’s clear that property values have increased quite a bit over the last year. This accounts for the increase in FHA loan limits for the 2015 calendar year.