Arizona offers everything from dry desert heat and midsize cities to snowy spots and towns surrounded by pine forests. In other words, if you’re thinking of buying a home in the state, you have plenty of choices in landscape and climate.Most of Arizona’s 7 million–plus people live in cities or metro areas. The Phoenix-Scottsdale-Mesa metro area alone has a population of 4.7 million.

Housing prices across Arizona have a less drastic divergence than some states. Median home prices go from the $80,000 range on the low end in less-populated counties like Greenlee and Apache, to the highest median price of $299,000 in Coconino County, which includes Flagstaff.
The median sale price is $273,000 in Pinal County, which includes Phoenix, Mesa and Scottsdale.

All of Arizona’s counties except for one have a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan limit of $314,827, which applies to most lower-cost counties across the U.S. Arizona’s outlier. Coconino County, has a loan limit of $362,250.

FHA loans are actually quite popular in Arizona. According to a 2016 FHA report, there were 46,513 FHA home loans granted in the state, totaling $8.4 billion. Arizona had the third-largest percentage of FHA loans in the country with 34.8% of overall home lending in 2015 (the most recent year for which this data is available). In 2018, 3.24% of FHA loans issued nationwide were in Arizona.

Arizona FHA Loan Limits by County

How are FHA loan limits set?

FHA loan limits are set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and based on the conforming loan limit — or how large a mortgage Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will purchase. In 2019, that limit is $484,350. The FHA’s “floor” is the largest mortgage the agency will insure in most of the country and is set at $314,827, or 65% of the conforming loan limit, for 2019.

The FHA “ceiling” applies to high-cost areas and is currently set at 150% of the conforming loan limit, or $726,525. Outside of a few exceptions, this is the highest mortgage the agency will insure for a single-family home. In other areas, loan limits fall somewhere between the FHA floor and ceiling.

The following are the 2019 standard FHA limits for all property types:

One-unit: $314,827

Two-unit: $403,125

Three-unit: $487,250

Four-unit: $605,525

The following are the 2019 standard FHA limits for high-cost areas:

One-unit: $726,525

Two-unit: $930,300

Three-unit: $1,124,475

Four-unit: $1,397,400

Do you qualify for an FHA loan in Arizona?

Potential homebuyers should look to FHA loans if they don’t have strong credit or they don’t have the cash to put down a sizable down payment. FHA loans require a minimum credit score of 500, but that will mean bringing a 10% down payment. The lowest available down payment for an FHA loan is 3.5%, but you’ll need a credit score of at least 580 to qualify for that amount.

A lending institution granting you an FHA loan also will consider your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio, which is your total debt compared with your monthly income. To find out whether this kind of loan may be right for you, visit LendingTree’s FHA loan page, which provides steps on how to apply for a loan, along with more information on how FHA loans work. (LendingTree is the parent company of MagnifyMoney.)