FHA Condo Rule Change Could Help More Buyers Break into Boulder Market
On Oct. 15, new rules will go into effect that will reduce regulatory barriers, making purchasing a condo in more expensive markets a bit easier. For example, the new rule will allow certain individual condominium units to be eligible for FHA mortgage insurance even if the condominium project is not FHA approved. (The condo unit needs to be in a completed project for approval.)
A single-unit approval process will make it easier for individual condo units to be eligible for FHA-insured financing under the new rules. Also, the changes will allow for more mixed-used projects to be eligible for FHA insurance and it extends the recertification requirement for approved condominium projects from two to three years.
The FHA’s backing makes the projects more marketable, said Brian Sullivan, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The rule change is expected to annually make 20,000 to 60,000 condo units eligible for the FHA-insured financing. The loan limit backed by the FHA for single-family mortgage insurance in Boulder County in 2019 is $626,750, up from $578,450 a year ago, Sullivan said. There are 2,722 active FHA-insured mortgages (not including reverse mortgages) in Boulder County, he said.