Jumbo Geography, Part 2: Going Local

Real estate is local; so is mortgage lending.

Previously, we looked at the distribution of homes across metro areas likely to require a jumbo mortgage, a mortgage too large to meet the repurchase and insurance requirements of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. We found the growing share of homes likely to require a jumbo loan was surprising in several otherwise relatively inexpensive or unassuming metros. Now, we’ve gone even more local, looking at the share of homes likely to require a jumbo mortgage* in each ZIP code within those metro areas.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there is wide divergence in the share of jumbo homes across different zip codes. For example, in ZIP code 98039 just outside of the city of Seattle covering the upscale community of Medina, more than 99 percent of homes are likely to require a jumbo loan. The share of homes requiring a jumbo mortgage in this area bottomed out at 86 percent in the third quarter of 2011, shortly after conforming loan limits were increased for the Seattle metro.

By contrast, a few miles away in ZIP code 98108 – covering the more modest Seattle neighborhoods of Beacon Hill and Georgetown – only 1.3 percent of homes require a jumbo mortgage.

Explore the interactive map below to look at the location of the jumbo homes in your metro or city. You can click on any zip code to view the full history below the map.

*We assume that each home is purchased with a 25 percent down payment, typical of borrowers seeking jumbo loans on Zillow.