(a) If any party believes that a mortgage limit established by the Secretary under §203.18(a)(1) does not accurately reflect the median house prices in an area, the party may submit documentation in support of an alternative mortgage limit. For purposes of this section, an area (1) must be at least the size of a county, whether or not the area is located within a metropolitan statistical area, as established by the Office of Management and Budget; and (2) may be an area for which the mortgage limits established under §203.18(b)(1) apply.

(b)

(1) The documentation referred to in paragraph (a) of this section must consist of sufficient housing sales price data for the entire geographic area for which the request is made to justify an alternative mortgage limit. The documentation should include a listing of actual sales prices in the area for all or nearly all new and existing 1-family homes and condominiums, over a period of time varies with sales volume, as follows:

(i) For 500 or more sales per month, a one-month reporting period;

(ii) For 250 through 499 sales per month, a two-month reporting period.

(iii) For less than 250 sales per month, a three-month reporting period.

The listing should contain a brief address for each property, its county location, its sale price, the month and year of its sale, and whether it is new or existing. In areas where the ratio of existing sales to new sales is three-to-one or greater, an increase in the mortgage limit may be based on 95 percent of the average of the new and the existing median sales prices. In these areas, the documentation referred to in this paragraph may also include separate median sales prices for both the new and existing homes.

(2) Requests for an increased mortgage limit based upon documentation of median house prices for the area should be sent to the appropriate HUD field office.

(c) In the case of an area where the Commissioner determines that the median one-family house price does not reasonably reflect the sales prices of newly constructed homes because of an existing stock whose value is static or declining, the Commissioner may give greater weight to the sales prices of new homes in determining median house price in such area. Without limiting the discretion of the Commissioner in fashioning appropriate methods of implementing the foregoing authority in particular circumstances based upon a demonstration of good cause satisfactory to the Commissioner, in areas where evidence satisfactory to the Commissioner indicates that existing home sales outnumber new home sales by three-to-one or better, the median sales price will be calculated as the greater of (1) the average of the median sales price for new and existing homes, and (2) the composite median price of all sales.

(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 2502-0302)

[45 FR 76377, Nov. 18, 1980, as amended at 47 FR 917, Jan. 7, 1982; 49 FR 12697, Mar. 30, 1984; 49 FR 14338, Apr. 11, 1984; 53 FR 8880, Mar. 18, 1988; 56 FR 18947, Apr. 24, 1991; 58 FR 41002, July 30, 1993; 59 FR 13882, Mar. 24, 1994; 60 FR 16033, Mar. 28, 1995]