New Jersey Adjusts Definition of High-Cost Home Loan

The New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance (the Department) recently issued a Bulletin announcing an adjustment to the definition of “high-cost home loan” under the New Jersey Home Ownership Security Act of 2002 (the Act).

The Act requires the Department to conduct an annual review and, if necessary, adjust the maximum principal amount that will, subject to the other triggering provisions in the Act, result in a loan being considered a high-cost home loan.  For the 2019 calendar year, based on the increase in the housing component of the national Consumer Price Index, the Department adjusted the definition of “high-cost home loan” under the Act to provide that the maximum principal amount of a loan that may be considered a high- cost home loan is $498,610.  That is an increase of $10,991.14 from the $487,618.86 figure used for the 2018 calendar year.

The revised high-cost home loan definition went into effect on January 1, 2019.