bostonbubble.com

[balor123]

Big change in U.S. mortgages sought

What?? How does increasing the conforming limit fit into this picture? Check out the history of conforming limits. Can we get a graph of conforming limits vs housing prices?

Editor's Note: Fixed broken link.

[admin]

Here's the S&P/Case-Shiller Index for Boston for each December divided by the conventional, conforming, single family limit for that year.

- admin

[balor123]

So it seems that conforming limit has had a large impact on Boston housing market then, no? The rise would only have been about 25% from 2000 to 2005 if the limits weren't increased and I think we can blame the remaining amount on optimism from a strong economy.

Check out the Globe article on the proposals:

[admin]

[balor123]

Yeah as I recall the limit increased from $417k to ~$700k as a "temporary" measure during the housing bust. Now they're letting it drop $100k so most of the "temporary" measure has become permanent.