If you're shopping for a home in Houston with an FHA, conventional or VA loan, the loan limit for Harris County decides how much your mortgage itself can be before you have to bring more cash or switch loan types. This guide gives the 2026 numbers for Harris County and the rest of the Houston area, explains why they're set where they are, and walks through what they mean when you're writing an offer. Every figure comes straight from HUD, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, checked on October 10, 2026.
TL;DR
- The 2026 FHA limit for a single-family home in Harris County is $541,287. It's $693,050 for a duplex, $837,700 for a triplex and $1,041,125 for a fourplex.
- Harris County sits at FHA's national "floor," the lowest limit FHA sets anywhere, and so does every other county in the Houston metro area.
- The 2026 conforming limit for a conventional loan in Harris County is $832,750 for one unit. A conventional loan above that is a jumbo loan.
- VA loans have no loan limit if you have full entitlement. If part of your entitlement is tied up, the county's $832,750 one-unit limit is used to work out how much you can borrow with no down payment.
- A loan limit caps the loan, not the price. You can buy a home priced above the limit if you cover the difference with a bigger down payment.
2026 FHA loan limits in Harris County
HUD's FHA Mortgage Limits lookup lists these 2026 FHA forward mortgage limits for Harris County, which is part of the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro area:
- One unit (single-family home, townhome or condo): $541,287
- Two units: $693,050
- Three units: $837,700
- Four units: $1,041,125
Those are the exact national floor amounts in HUD's Mortgagee Letter 2025-23, dated December 11, 2025. They apply to FHA case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2026. Your lender requests the FHA case number early in the loan process, so the date it's assigned, not your closing date, decides which year's limit applies.
You can check the numbers yourself on HUD's FHA Mortgage Limits lookup. Choose Texas, limit type "FHA Forward" and year "CY2026," then search by county or by the Houston metro area.
Why Harris County is at the FHA floor
FHA doesn't pick these numbers. The National Housing Act sets the formula, and HUD explains it in its 2026 loan limit announcement. The floor is 65% of the national conforming loan limit, and the floor applies anywhere 115% of the local median home price comes in below it. Areas above the floor are treated as high-cost areas and get higher limits, up to a ceiling of $1,249,125 for a single-family home in 2026.
HUD's lookup shows a median sale price of $375,000 for the Houston metro area. 115% of that is $431,250, which is well under the $541,287 floor, so Harris County gets the floor. The same is true across the metro area: Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, San Jacinto and Waller counties all show the same 2026 FHA limits in HUD's lookup. Buying in Katy, Sugar Land, Pearland, The Woodlands or League City instead of inside the Loop doesn't change your FHA limit.
2026 conforming loan limits for conventional loans
Conventional loans that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can buy have their own limits, called conforming loan limits, set each year by the FHFA. FHFA's 2026 announcement, released November 25, 2025, raised the baseline limit for a one-unit home to $832,750, up $26,250 from 2025. That followed a 3.26% rise in average U.S. home prices between the third quarters of 2024 and 2025, as measured by FHFA's house price index.
FHFA's county-by-county list shows Harris County at the baseline for 2026:
- One unit: $832,750
- Two units: $1,066,250
- Three units: $1,288,800
- Four units: $1,601,750
Every other Houston-area county on that list (Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Liberty, Montgomery, San Jacinto and Waller) is at the same baseline. A conventional mortgage bigger than these amounts is a non-conforming, or jumbo, loan. Jumbo loans are offered by individual lenders on their own terms, so compare their requirements before you commit to a price range.
VA loan limits for Houston buyers
VA loans work differently. According to the VA's entitlement and loan limits page, if you have full entitlement you don't have a loan limit, as long as you can afford the loan and the appraisal supports the price. You still need a lender to approve you, and the loan can't be more than the appraised value.
The county limit matters when part of your entitlement is already in use, for example if you still own a home bought with an earlier VA loan. VA uses the same county limits as FHFA, so in Harris County you start from the $832,750 one-unit limit. VA's method looks like this:
- Multiply the county's one-unit limit by 0.25. In Harris County that's $208,187.50.
- Subtract the entitlement you've already used, shown in the "Entitlement Charged" column on your Certificate of Eligibility (COE). If you've used $50,000, you have $158,187.50 left.
- Multiply what's left by 4. Here that's $632,750, the most VA says lenders would usually lend you with no down payment.
You can borrow more than that with a down payment. VA says most lenders want your entitlement, your down payment, or the two together to cover at least 25% of the loan. Our VA loan guide covers the rest of the program.
What the limits mean when you make an offer
A loan limit caps the size of the mortgage, not the price of the home. Say you want to use FHA on a $600,000 single-family home in Harris County. Your FHA loan can't go over $541,287, so you'd need to bring at least $58,713 to the table as your down payment, plus closing costs. Your lender's own minimums and FHA's down payment rules still apply on top of that, so the real number can be higher. Our FHA loan guide for Houston buyers explains those rules.
A few practical points help:
- Run the math before you tour. If the homes you like are priced above the FHA limit, work out how much extra cash it takes, or ask your lender whether a conventional loan fits better. Our guide to how much house you can afford in Houston helps with the monthly side.
- Count the units. The limit depends on how many units the property has. A duplex in the Heights or a fourplex in Montrose has a higher FHA limit than a single-family home.
- Don't forget cash to close. Closing costs come on top of the down payment. See what Houston buyers pay at closing.
- Get the limit confirmed in writing. Ask your loan officer to confirm the limit that applies to your FHA case number or conventional loan when you're preapproved.
When will the 2027 limits come out?
The 2026 conforming limits were announced on November 25, 2025, and HUD's FHA limits followed on December 11, 2025. FHA's floor is tied to the conforming limit by law, so when FHFA announces next year's conforming limit, the new FHA floor follows from it. If you're shopping late in the year near a limit, ask your lender how the timing of your FHA case number affects which year's limit you get.
FAQ
What is the FHA loan limit in Harris County for 2026?
For a single-family home it's $541,287. It's $693,050 for two units, $837,700 for three units and $1,041,125 for four units, for FHA case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2026.
Is the FHA loan limit different in Fort Bend or Montgomery County?
No. HUD's lookup shows the same 2026 FHA limits for every county in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro area, including Fort Bend, Montgomery, Brazoria and Galveston.
What is the conforming loan limit in Houston for 2026?
In Harris County and the other Houston-area counties it's $832,750 for a one-unit home, according to FHFA's 2026 county list. A conventional loan above that is a jumbo loan.
Can I buy a home that costs more than the FHA limit?
Yes. The limit applies to the loan, not the price. You'd need to cover the difference between the price and the limit with your down payment, and your lender still has to approve the loan.
Is there a VA loan limit in Harris County?
Not if you have full entitlement. If some of your entitlement is in use, VA uses the county's $832,750 one-unit limit to calculate your remaining entitlement and how much you can borrow without a down payment.
Why are FHA limits lower than conforming limits in Houston?
By law, FHA's floor is 65% of the national conforming limit. Houston's median home price is low enough that Harris County gets the floor, while conventional loans here use the full $832,750 baseline.
One last thing
Loan limits are one of the first numbers to settle when you're house hunting in Houston, because they decide which homes work with the loan you're planning to use. If you're comparing FHA, conventional and VA options, or want to know what a specific home would take in cash, talk to our team or browse homes for sale with your numbers in hand.