The Federal Housing Finance Agency was formed this summer by a legislative merger of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), the Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) mission team.  Their new website started October 28, 2008, which publishes national statistics revealing home values trends for metropolitan areas, states and regions throughout the country.

Third quarter 2008 figures were just published for the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA MSA, indicating a decline of -11.51 percent from the previous year and a -4.94 percent third quarter decline.  A fact that is sometimes missed by the press is that the MSA also had a +27.73 percent increase over the past five years.

The San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA is considered a high-cost area loan area.  Under rules set forth in the Stimulus Act, loans originated in 2008 and the second half of 2007 are subject to limits of 125 percent of local price medians up to a maximum of $729,750.  However, loan limits will be different for 2009 than they were for 2008 because of the lower median price multiplier in HERA (i.e., loan limits are 115 percent rather than 125 percent of median prices) and the lower ceiling ($625,500 rather than $729,750).

Please write your congressman and senator to have the $729,750 limit extended beyond 2008.