It’s too soon to reduce agency loan limits, according to numerous trade groups involved in the securitization and mortgage origination markets. Momentum in Congress also appears to be moving toward maintaining the high-cost loan limits, a category of loans that was created in 2008 on an “emergency” basis. In December, the Federal Housing Finance Agency issued a request for input on a proposal to set loan purchase limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Ed DeMarco, the FHFA’s acting director at the time, was considering reducing the loan amount eligible for purchase by the government-sponsored enterprises from $625,500 in high-cost areas to $600,000 and reducing the national loan purchase limit for the GSEs from $417,000 to $400,000. DeMarco said...