2026 Conforming Loan Limits in Southern California: Riverside, Ventura, Los Angeles and Orange Counties

Two buyers, both borrowing $1,000,000, both with excellent credit and 20% down. One is buying in Thousand Oaks, the other in La Quinta. The first gets a conforming loan with conventional pricing. The second needs a jumbo loan with tighter guidelines and more reserves. Nothing about the borrowers is different — only the county line between them.

Loan limits are one of the least understood parts of a home purchase in Southern California, and one of the most consequential. Bill Lewis at Choice One Mortgage finances homes across the Coachella Valley, Ventura County, and the South Bay, three markets that fall into three different loan limit tiers. This guide explains what the 2026 limits are, what high-balance conforming means, and how to know which category your purchase falls into.

There Are Three Tiers, Not Two

Most buyers have heard of conforming loans and jumbo loans and assume there is a single line between them. There is actually a middle tier, and in Southern California it matters a great deal.

• Standard conforming: loans at or below the national baseline limit, which is $832,750 for a one-unit property in 2026. These get the sharpest conventional pricing and the lowest minimum down payments.
• High-balance conforming: loans above the baseline but at or below the limit for a designated high-cost county. These still follow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines and are still conventional loans — they simply carry modest pricing adjustments and usually require a slightly larger down payment.
• Jumbo: loans above the applicable county limit. These cannot be sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, so terms are set by individual lenders and investors, and requirements are generally stricter.

The middle tier is the one buyers miss. A borrower who assumes they need a jumbo loan at $900,000 may in fact qualify for a conventional high-balance loan, with easier guidelines and often better terms — but only if the property is in the right county.

2026 Conforming Loan Limits in Southern California

The Federal Housing Finance Agency sets these limits each November for the following calendar year. For 2026 the baseline rose to $832,750 from $806,500 in 2025, an increase of about 3.26%. The ceiling for designated high-cost counties is $1,249,125, which is 150% of the baseline.

California is unusual in that it contains all three categories. Here is where our service areas land for a one-unit property:

Note the gap. A buyer in Calabasas or Agoura Hills, both in Los Angeles County, has $1,249,125 of conforming room. A buyer in Oak Park, a few minutes away in Ventura County, has $1,035,000. And a buyer in La Quinta has $832,750. The Inland Empire result surprises people most: despite years of price growth, Riverside and San Bernardino remain at the national baseline under the FHFA's current designations.

Multi-Unit Properties Have Higher Limits

If you are buying a duplex, triplex, or fourplex — whether to invest or to live in one unit and rent the others — the limits are considerably higher.

Intermediate-tier counties such as Ventura and San Diego scale proportionally between these two columns. Ask us for the exact figure for the county and property type you are considering.

Why High-Balance Conforming Is Worth Asking About

If you are borrowing between $832,750 and your county's limit, and your county is above the baseline, you are in high-balance territory. This is a conventional loan in every meaningful sense.

Compared with a jumbo loan, high-balance conforming generally offers a lower minimum down payment — often around 5% on a one-unit primary residence, versus the 10% to 20% many jumbo programs require. It follows published Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines rather than individual investor overlays, which makes qualifying more predictable. Reserve requirements are typically lighter, and the underwriting decision usually runs through automated underwriting rather than a manual review.

The trade-off is pricing. High-balance loans carry loan-level price adjustments, so the rate is usually a bit above standard conforming. In some rate environments a jumbo loan actually prices better than high-balance, particularly for borrowers with strong credit and substantial assets, because portfolio lenders compete aggressively for those relationships. That is precisely why it is worth pricing both rather than assuming.

A Practical Example

Consider a $1,150,000 purchase in Redondo Beach with 20% down, for a loan amount of $920,000. Because Los Angeles County's limit is $1,249,125, that loan is high-balance conforming, not jumbo. The same $920,000 loan on a home in Palm Desert would be a jumbo loan, since Riverside County's limit is $832,750.

Same borrower, same loan size, two different products with different guidelines, down payment minimums, reserve requirements, and pricing. This is why the first question we ask on any purchase near these thresholds is which county the property sits in.

When You Are Just Above the Limit

If your loan lands slightly above your county's limit, you have options worth pricing before defaulting to jumbo.

Increasing your down payment enough to bring the loan under the limit is often the simplest, and the savings in rate and guideline flexibility can outweigh the additional cash. A piggyback structure — a first mortgage at the conforming or high-balance limit plus a second lien for the remainder — can also work well, though it means two payments and the second usually carries a higher rate. And in some cases the jumbo loan is simply the better product, especially at higher loan amounts where jumbo pricing is competitive.

There is no single right answer. There is only the answer for your file, which is why these should be quoted side by side.

FHA and VA Limits Work Differently

Two common points of confusion.

FHA limits are set by HUD, not the FHFA, using a different calculation. They range from a national floor of $541,287 to a ceiling of $1,249,125 in California's highest-cost counties for a one-unit property. Crucially, a county's FHA limit is not necessarily the same as its conforming limit — in some counties FHA is lower, in others it can be higher. Check your specific county on our FHA and FNMA county loan limits page or through HUD's official lookup tool before relying on a number.

VA loans do not have loan limits for eligible veterans with full entitlement. The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019 removed them. A qualified veteran with full entitlement can borrow above the conforming limit with no down payment, subject to lender approval and the property appraising. In high-cost parts of Southern California this is one of the most valuable benefits available, and it is routinely overlooked.

What This Means in Each of Our Markets

The Coachella Valley

With Riverside County at the baseline $832,750, buyers in La Quinta, Indian Wells, and Rancho Mirage reach jumbo territory faster than buyers almost anywhere else in coastal Southern California. There is no high-balance tier here — you go from conforming straight to jumbo. For luxury and country club properties, that makes the jumbo conversation central rather than incidental, and it is also where non-QM jumbo programs become relevant for self-employed buyers and retirees.

Ventura County and the Conejo Valley

At $1,035,000, Ventura County sits comfortably above the baseline but below the ceiling. Buyers in Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, and Camarillo have real high-balance room. Worth noting for anyone shopping across the county line: Calabasas and Agoura Hills are in Los Angeles County with the higher $1,249,125 limit, while Oak Park and Newbury Park are in Ventura County at $1,035,000. Neighboring communities, different financing math.

The South Bay

Los Angeles County's $1,249,125 limit gives South Bay buyers the most conforming room available anywhere in the country. In Torrance, Redondo Beach, and San Pedro, a large share of purchases can be financed conventionally. In Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, and the Palos Verdes Peninsula, prices frequently exceed it, and jumbo becomes the norm — though the high-balance tier still covers more purchases than most buyers expect.

A Note on Timing

The FHFA announces new limits each November, effective January 1. Many lenders will begin funding at the new, higher limits in the weeks before the calendar year turns, holding the loans until January to deliver them. If you are shopping in the fourth quarter and your loan amount is near the current limit, ask about this — it can occasionally change which product you use without waiting for January.

Frequently Asked Questions About 2026 Loan Limits