VHDA INCREASES SALES AND INCOME LIMITS
TO OFFSET RISING HOME PRICES
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Increases Offer Greater Homeownership Opportunities
For Low-to Moderate-Income Homebuyers

RICHMOND, Va. (Oct. 9, 2002) – To help remove barriers to homeownership and put affordable homes within the reach of more low- and moderate-income borrowers, VHDA established new sales price and income limits for its consumer lending products.

“VHDA is pleased to enact these changes, which will significantly impact our programs,” said Susan Dewey, VHDA’s executive director. “ We anticipate these increases along with VHDA’s low interest rates, no down payment loans, flexible qualifying and innovative loan features will help many more Virginians become homeowners.”

VHDA’s first-time homebuyer programs: In the Washington D.C. – Virginia MSA, sales limits for existing construction increased to $213,200 from $171,800 and for new construction to $306,600.

To support the new sales limits, VHDA increased first-time homebuyer income limits in the Washington D.C. – Virginia MSA to $86,900 from $68,700 for two or fewer persons; and to $100,600 from $79,500 for three or more persons.

VHDA’s Flexible Alternative program: The maximum income limit for Flexible Alternative loans in the Washington D.C. – Virginia MSA increased to $109,800 from $99,300. The maximum loan limit for all Flexible Alternative loans increased to $300,700 from $275,000 statewide.

“It’s a seller’s market, which isn’t always good news for first-time homebuyers and homeowners looking to improve their current state of housing,” said Patrick Jablonski, president, Northern Virginia Association of Realtors. “This increase reflects VHDA’s desire to respond to the current cost of housing.”

“For a two-person household with a combined income of less than $86,900, qualifying for a loan is the easier part of the equation,” said Margaret Sutherland, president, Virginia Mortgage Bankers Association. “The hard part is finding a home that is moderately priced, and VHDA’s increases help solve that challenge.”

VHDA utilizes data that has been IRS-approved to increase sales and income limits. VHDA increased sales prices in most of the metropolitan statistical areas based on Internal Revenue Service approved data. Currently, there is no IRS-approved data available to support increases statewide.

“We realize that we cannot address inflated housing prices in all areas of the state,” said Michele Watson, VHDA’s assistant director of single family lending. “As additional IRS-approved data is available, VHDA’s goal is to review limits in other areas of the state where housing prices are significantly higher than current limits and consider increases over the next few months.”

“At the same time we remain committed to delivering affordable housing to very low-income Virginians as evident by our $250 million of funding to the Virginia Housing Fund (VHF) through fiscal year 2006,” said Dewey. “This will increase VHF’s capacity to create unique programs to deliver affordable homes and rental units on a local and regional basis.”

The region designated as the Washington D.C.-Virginia MSA includes the following cities and counties: Alexandria, Arlington County, Fairfax, Fairfax County, Falls Church, Fauquier County, Fredericksburg City, Loudoun County, Manassas, Manassas Park, Prince William County, Spotsylvania County and Stafford County.
VHDA last increased sales price limits in 1994 and income limits in 1998.
To view a complete list of sales and income increases, visit www.vhda.com and click on “VHDA announces new sales price and income limits.”

VHDA is Virginia’s housing finance agency and is self-supporting. VHDA issues bonds to raise private capital to provide low-interest rate loans to consumers to purchase or renovate homes, and loans to developers for the development, rehabilitation and renovation of rental units to deliver safe, decent, affordable housing.

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