A high-balance loan is a Conventional loan whose amount sits above the national baseline conforming limit but at or under the higher limit for a high-cost county. Because it stays inside that county's limit, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can still buy it, which keeps it on standard Conventional rules instead of a jumbo lender's private rules. In Florida, the only county where this applies is Monroe.
Where the extra room comes from
The Federal Housing Finance Agency sets the conforming limit county by county. Most counties get the national baseline, $832,750 for one unit in 2026. Where home values run high, the county limit rises to 115% of the local median value, up to a ceiling of $1,249,125 for one unit. The band between the baseline and the county's own figure is high-balance territory. A loan in that band in Monroe County is high-balance, while the same loan amount in Orange, Duval or Broward is a jumbo.
How the rules change above the baseline
Fannie Mae's Selling Guide treats these loans as their own category, with a short list of extra conditions:
- Every high-balance loan has to be approved through Desktop Underwriter (DU), Fannie Mae's automated underwriting system. Manual underwriting isn't available.
- It must be a first mortgage, and its loan-to-value ratio (LTV, the loan divided by the price or value) has to stay within Fannie Mae's eligibility matrix, which can be tighter than a baseline loan on some transactions.
- Pricing generally lands a little above a baseline conforming loan.
Everything else follows the normal Selling Guide, so income, assets and credit are documented the same way as any Conventional loan.
A worked example
A buyer finds a home in the Keys. After the down payment, the loan comes out $60,000 above the national baseline and still under Monroe's limit, which makes it a high-balance loan. The buyer can carry that $60,000 in the loan or bring more cash. At a 5.75% rate on a 30-year fixed, each $1,000 borrowed costs about $5.84 a month in principal and interest.
| Route | Amount above the baseline | Added principal and interest |
|---|---|---|
| Keep the full high-balance loan | $60,000 | $350.14 a month |
| Add $20,000 to the down payment | $40,000 | $233.43 a month |
| Add $60,000 to the down payment | $0 | None; the loan becomes a baseline conforming loan |
A buyer who wants to hold cash for reserves, closing costs and the first year of insurance usually keeps the high-balance loan. A buyer with savings to spare can bring the loan down to the baseline and take the standard pricing.
Our loan limits tool shows Monroe's figure next to every other Florida county. If you're shopping in the Keys, call AAA Capital Funding at 888-601-8344 and we'll price the high-balance loan against a larger down payment so you can see both payments.