Housing Affordability Act
Key claim: S1527 would raise FHA multifamily mortgage insurance loan limits and switch their inflation indexing from the CPI-U to the Price Deflator Index of Multifamily Residential Units Under Construction.
Abstract
(S1527 · 119th Congress) Housing Affordability Act This bill increases the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA’s) multifamily housing loan limits for mortgage insurance and requires the use of a more specific inflation index for these limits. Specifically, the bill increases the loan limits to qualify for FHA mortgage insurance for rental housing, cooperative housing, rehabilitation and neighborhood conservation housing, housing for moderate income and displaced families, housing for elderly persons, and condominiums, and it requires these limits to be indexed to the Price Deflator Index of Multifamily Residential Units Under Construction released by the Bureau of the Census. Currently, these limits are indexed to the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers. Latest action (2025-04-30): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Why this matters
FHA multifamily mortgage insurance loan limits determine how much of the multifamily construction and refinance market federal insurance can reach; when limits lag construction-cost inflation, projects fall out of eligibility and builders lose access to lower-cost insured financing. Switching the escalator from CPI-U to a construction-specific deflator would tie the ceiling more directly to multifamily building costs, which could sustain FHA’s role in rental housing production over time. The proposal is incremental but affects the pipeline of insured rental supply that ultimately reaches renters.