Alameda County Conforming Loan Limits for 2022: Up to $970,800

Another year, another increase for Alameda County conforming loan limits. In 2022 the conforming loan limit for a single-family home in Alameda County, California will go up to $970,800. Anything above that would be considered a jumbo mortgage.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced these changes in a press release earlier today. As we mentioned in a related article, the maximum mortgage amount has gone up for other California counties as well.

These changes are a direct result of significant home-price growth that occurred over the past year.

Conforming vs. Jumbo Loans in Alameda County: 2022

Conventional mortgage loans (those that are not insured by the federal government) can be categorized in two ways, depending on their size:

• If the loan meets the size restrictions used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it’s considered to be a conforming loan. That’s because it “conforms” to the criteria mentioned above.
• On the other hand, a loan that exceeds the conforming limits used by Freddie and Fannie is said to be a jumbo mortgage. It is too big to be sold into the secondary mortgage market.

In Alameda County, the 2022 conforming loan limit will be $970,800. That’s for a single-family property, specifically. Higher caps apply for multi-family (duplex and triplex) properties. This limit will remain in effect until 2023, at which time it could be revised again.

This means that the 2022 jumbo loan threshold for Alameda County is anything higher than $970,800. If you use a conventional mortgage to buy a house that exceeds this conforming limit, you have entered the jumbo mortgage range. Jumbo loans tend to have stricter qualification criteria, due to their larger size and higher risk level.

Rising Home Prices Bring Higher Limits

Home prices in Alameda County, California rose steadily and sharply during 2021. According to the real estate data company Zillow, the median home value in the county rose by nearly 22% during the past 12 months (as of November 2021).

The median price had climbed above $1.1 million when this article was published, and for the first time ever.

This is why the 2022 conforming loan limits for Alameda County have gone up. Federal housing officials raised them to keep up with rising home values.

Those actions have also increased the jumbo mortgage threshold for Alameda County. Because, as mentioned earlier, a jumbo loan is anything larger than the conforming limit.

At a Glance: Alameda County, California

Alameda County is the seventh most populous county in the state of California, and the 21st most populous in the entire nation. As of the 2020 census count, it had a population of nearly 1.7 million people. Oakland is the county seat.

Alameda falls within the broader San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley metropolitan area, also referred to as the Bay Area.

Like some of its other Bay Area counterparts, Alameda is one of the more expensive counties in California, in terms of median home values.

The conforming / jumbo loan limits mentioned above apply to all cities that fall within Alameda County. Thus, they apply to the following:

• Alameda
• Albany
• Berkeley
• Dublin
• Emeryville
• Fremont
• Hayward
• Livermore
• Newark
• Oakland (the county seat)
• Piedmont
• Pleasanton
• San Leandro
• Union City

A Summary of Key Points

We’ve covered a lot of information in this article. So let’s take a moment to summarize some of the key points borrowers should know:

• The 2022 conforming loan limit for Alameda County, California is $970,800 for a single-family home.
• If you take out a conventional (non-government-insured) mortgage for an amount more than $970,800, it will be considered a jumbo loan.
• These conforming and jumbo thresholds apply to all cities within Alameda County. That includes Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Dublin, Emeryville, Fremont, Hayward, Livermore, Newark, Oakland, Piedmont, Pleasanton, San Leandro and Union City.
• Because of the larger amount of money being borrowed, jumbo loans tend to bring stricter qualify qualification criteria for borrowers.
• Borrowers need to have a good credit score, a manageable level of debt, and some form of income (or assets) sufficient to cover the monthly payments and other recurring debts.
• Federal housing officials sometimes increase the conforming limits from one year to the next. They do this to keep up with home-price appreciation, especially in years when prices climb significantly.