CrossCountry Mortgage (CCM) has raised its conforming loan limit to $845,000 through an “Early Bird” program announced Thursday, moving ahead of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)’s official 2027 announcement and matching a similar move by Rocket Mortgage earlier in the day.
Other competitors are expected to follow suit. In recent years, a handful of lenders have introduced higher limits ahead of the FHFA announcement to keep more business in conventional channels instead of pushing borrowers into jumbo loans, taking on the risk that FHFA’s eventual number might differ.
FHFA typically publishes its updated limits for the following year in late November.
By setting its own higher limit before FHFA’s formal update, CCM said it aims to give borrowers earlier access to larger conforming loan amounts and more purchasing power in a market still defined by elevated home prices.
“The housing market doesn’t wait for annual loan-limit updates, and neither should homebuyers,” Brian Clark, director of product and pricing at CCM, said in a statement.
CCM’s cap is 1.47% above the current 2026 ceiling of $832,750 and applies to agency-eligible conventional loans. The $12,250 increase over the current limit can expand options for borrowers on the margin who are constrained by debt-to-income ratios or cash to close.
It may also provide some pricing relief versus jumbo products, depending on the lender’s rate sheets and overlays. Loans that exceed FHFA’s official limit fall into the jumbo market, which is primarily dominated by banks.
Rocket also rolled out an $845,000 internal conforming limit earlier in the day. The new limit applies to borrowers working directly with Rocket Mortgage as well as those working with broker partners throughRocket Pro, effective immediately.
“This, in large part, has to do with Rocket’s liquidity, our Fortress-like balance sheet, which allows us to do things like this that maybe other lenders wouldn’t have the opportunity to do. So, we’re not waiting until 2027,”Kyle Schoenmaker, Rocket Pro’s senior vice president of sales, told HousingWire.
The expected 2027 increase is smaller than the 3.25% jump in 2026’s baseline limit. Because FHFA’s annual changes track home price trends, the more modest move points to a softer housing market this year as mortgage rates hover around 7%.