This week, FHFA, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, announced new conforming loan limits for 2018. This is great news for us in Hawaii. All lenders, regardless if a loan is going to Fannie or Freddie, use the Conforming Loan Limits set by the federal regulators to determine if a loan is conforming or jumbo.

There are two conforming loan limits for each county. The first is the standard conforming loan limit. The second is for an additional classification called “high balance”. The high balance loans are also referred to as “jumbo conforming”. What makes this confusing is that the standard conforming rate is the same for every county in Hawaii, yet the high balance limits are different for each county. To make it even more confusing is that some county’s conforming limit and high balance limit are the same.

Let’s just look at the chart to better understand the limits for each county.

Conforming Limit High Balance Limit
Honolulu County $679,650 $721,050
Kauai County $679,650 $713,000
Maui County $679,650 $679,650
Hawaii County $679,650 $679,650

The good news is that for 2018 the limit for all counties has gone up significantly from the $636,150 limit in 2017.

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