It has just become more difficult to get a mortgage on a condo in Florida. Lending giant Fannie Mae, which buys the majority of home loans from lenders, recently toughened its requirements on mortgages for Florida condos in a move analysts believe will only slow down sales in buildings that are already starved for residents and struggling financially.
The new conditions needed to quality include:
- No more than 15% of a building’s unit owners may be delinquent (30 days or more past due) on association fees.
- In new condo buildings and condo conversions, at lease 70% of the units must have been sold or under contract. The previous requirement was 49%.
- Fannie Mae will now be reviewing condo buildings to make sure they meet all requirements. Before, Fannie Mae relied on lenders to perform the reviews.
The new rules come at a time when condo buyers are already struggling to get a mortgage. Over the past two years, most banks have dramatically pulled back on condo lending, requiring as much as 40% down payments or blacklisting certain condo buildings altogether. So who benefits from this situation? Cash-rich buyers will now have more power and will be able to command greater discounts. Hedge funds who want to buy bulk in these buildings are also going to have an advantage.
It is estimated that about 25% of the tri- county market will be shut out of Fannie-funded financing due to the new restrictions. Even though Fannie Mae is not the only source of funding for lenders which want to make condo loans, these changes will have a major impact on the condo market. Freddie Mac, the number two mortgage guarantor in the country, usually follows Fannie Mae’s lead and is expected to implement the same guidelines soon.
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