Vito Fossella: “Mr. Chairman as we consider H.R. 1461, the Federal Housing Finance Reform Act, I would like to urge my colleagues to…”

“Mr. Chairman as we consider H.R. 1461, the Federal Housing Finance Reform Act, I would like to urge my colleagues to support the inclusion of a provision to provide an increase in Conforming Loan Limits for high cost Metropolitan Service Areas, MSAs. Since 1980, the price of homeownership in New York has increased by 492 percent, and continues to escalate in the current housing market. With drastically higher prices than other parts of the country, homeownership in the area has limited access for lower and middle income New Yorkers. The GSE's chartered mission is to expand homeownership for low to middle income Americans, and this should apply to Americans regardless of the geographic region in which they reside. In working towards achieving this mission, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are restricted in their ability to participate in these high cost areas because significantly fewer mortgages fall within the conforming loan limit. The current loan limit is set at $359,650. The median price of a home in the New York area, however, is $435,200--considerably higher even for entry level home prices. While the current loan limit has been raised to the lesser of 150 percent of the statutory limit or the median home price in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the Virgin Islands, high cost metropolitan areas like New York City have been left out.…”