The HUD principal limit factor table

The rows of the table at the rates of 2026

The grid below is HUD's table for ages 62 to 99, at expected rates from 5 % to 9.5 % by half a point. The expected rate of an adjustable HECM is the 10-year Treasury rate plus the lender's margin; with the 10-year average at 5.15 % in the week ending October 16, 2026, most offers land between the 6 % and 8 % columns. Multiply the factor by the lesser of your home value and $1,249,125 to get the principal limit.

The full table has 10,496 cells: 82 ages and 128 expected rates. It is available as a CSV file built from HUD's workbook, and HUD's own copy is the spreadsheet on hud.gov.

How HUD reads a cell

Two roundings come before the lookup, both written in the help pages of HUD's calculator (HUD calculator help). The expected rate is rounded to the nearest eighth of a point, so 6.65 % is read in the 6.625 % column and 6.69 % in the 6.75 % column. The age is rounded to the nearest birthday: someone who is 67 years and seven months old is read on the 68 row. Rates below 3 % use the 3 % column, a floor that matters only when Treasury rates are very low.

The age is that of the youngest person the loan protects. Every borrower must be at least 62, but a younger spouse who is not on the loan can be named an eligible non-borrowing spouse and keep living in the home after the borrower dies. The table then uses that spouse's age, which is why it starts at 18 even though no borrower can be that young.

Why the factor falls when rates rise

HUD sizes the factor so that, on average, the loan balance does not overtake the home's value before the loan ends. The balance grows each month at the note rate plus 0.5 % of mortgage insurance; the expected rate is HUD's long-run guess of that note rate. A higher expected rate means faster growth, so HUD lends a smaller share upfront. At 68, going from 5.625 % to 7.625 % takes the factor from 0.420 to 0.332: on a $350,000 home, that is $30,800 of principal limit.

Age works the other way. An older borrower has fewer expected years for the balance to grow, so the factor rises: at 6.625 %, from 0.328 at 62 to 0.598 at 90. Near the top of the table the factor stops rising: no cell goes above 0.750, and at the lowest rates some rows from age 62 show the same factor in neighboring columns.

From the factor to cash in hand

The factor gives the principal limit, line 1 of the HUD payment plan. It is not what you receive. The upfront mortgage insurance premium takes 2 % of the maximum claim amount, the origination fee up to $6,000, then come third-party closing costs and any mortgage the loan pays off. In the first 12 months you can use 60 % of the principal limit, or those obligations plus 10 % when they are larger. For the 68-year-old with a $350,000 home and no mortgage, that leaves $65,830 in the first year and $52,220 after it. The first-year limit page walks through those lines, and the full HECM calculator prints them all.

The 2017 table and the one before it

HUD introduced this table with Mortgagee Letter 2017-12, for case numbers assigned from October 2, 2017. The same letter set the upfront premium at 2 % of the maximum claim amount for every loan and the annual premium at 0.5 %. The letter applies to case numbers assigned from that date, so loans opened before it keep the factors and premiums of their time. When HUD replaces the table, a new Mortgagee Letter will say so, and this page and the calculators will be rebuilt from the new file.

What does change every year is the limit. The maximum claim amount cannot exceed $1,249,125 for case numbers assigned in 2026, set by Mortgagee Letter 2025-22. The 2027 limit is not published yet; HUD usually announces it in December 2026. The lending limit page has the details.