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In 2023, the FHA loan limit for Portland, Oregon is $672,750 for a single-family property. The median home value in the city is now catching up to that figure. This article will outline how FHA loan limits compare with home prices in Portland.
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) home loans are a popular financing option with some Portland home buyers, particularly those seeking a low-down-payment mortgage product. These government-insured loans offer flexible qualification criteria for borrowers and down payments as low as 3.5%.
There are limits to how much you can borrow when using an FHA loan to buy a house in Portland, or anywhere else in Oregon. For the calendar year 2023, the FHA loan limit for Portland is $672,750. That number is only slightly higher than the median home price in Portland, which was around $567,842 as of December 2022.
Where do these limits come from, and how might they affect you as a borrower?
The FHA loan program is managed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. So, it’s a government-regulated housing agency. HUD officials establish the FHA loan limits for Portland, Oregon and the rest of the United States.
These limits are actually based on the ones used by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), for non-government-backed conforming mortgage loans. Basically, the FHA cap for a particular area is based on a certain percentage of the conforming limits used by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
At the end of 2022, housing officials announced they were raising the FHA loan limit for Portland, Oregon up to $672,750. This was done to keep pace with rising home values in the area. That’s the limit for single-family home purchases anywhere within the Portland metro area. It applies to the following counties:
| County Name | 1-Unit | 2-Unit | 3-Unit | 4-Unit |
| CLACKAMAS | $672,750 | $861,250 | $1,041,050 | $1,293,750 |
| COLUMBIA | $672,750 | $861,250 | $1,041,050 | $1,293,750 |
| MULTNOMAH | $672,750 | $861,250 | $1,041,050 | $1,293,750 |
| WASHINGTON | $672,750 | $861,250 | $1,041,050 | $1,293,750 |
| YAMHILL | $672,750 | $861,250 | $1,041,050 | $1,293,750 |
Check out our mortgage loan limit tool for conventional, FHA, and VA loans, as well as the 2023 FHA loan limits for Oregon.
Portland home buyers who use an FHA loan to buy a house must make a down payment of at least 3.5% of the purchase price or the appraised value. So, the price of the house you are purchasing will influence the size of your down payment.
The median home value for Portland, Oregon is slowly catching up to the current (2023) FHA loan limit in the area. According to the real estate information company Zillow, the city’s median home value is $567,842 as of December 2022, as mentioned above.
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You might recall from the math classes of your youth that the “median” is basically the middle number — or midpoint — for a range of values. So, a “median home price” means that half of the properties in the area are priced above that level, while the other half are priced below it.
The 2023 FHA loan limit for Portland is a bit higher than the median home value. This gives homebuyers some wiggle room before hitting jumbo loan territory.
Jumbo loans are loans that have loan amounts that are higher than the loan limit in a given county. Homebuyers who are looking at very expensive homes may find that the loan amount they need is higher than the FHA loan limit in their given county.
At Sammamish Mortgage, we offer a wide variety of mortgage programs and tools with flexible qualification criteria, including our Diamond Homebuyer Program, Cash Buyer Program, and Bridge Loans. We have been serving the entire state since 1992, as well as the broader Pacific Northwest region that includes Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and Idaho. Please contact us today with any financing-related questions you have.
Whether you’re buying a home or ready to refinance, our professionals can help.
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No Obligation and transparency 24/7. Instantly compare live rates and costs from our network of lenders across the country. Real-time accurate rates and closing costs for a variety of loan programs custom to your specific situation.