The size of mortgage you can get on a conforming loan, along with conforming-loan pricing, in Pierce County has grown by $150,500 through the end of the year. Such loans tend to be cheaper than loans above the limit, often referred to as jumbo loans.

Pierce County’s conforming loan limit has grown from $417,000 to $567,500, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Along with Seattle, Bellevue and Everett, it’s the highest of the new loan limits in the state.

No word yet, however, on just when these new limits will be accessible, because lenders and brokers are waiting to find out the fees and/or interest rates on these loans.

According to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, the change opens up an additional 858 homes in Pierce County to the increased limits, meaning 83 percent of homes listed in the county would qualify for the new loan limits.

The shift is temporary, however, and tied to the federal economic stimulus package passed earlier this year, according to a release from Fannie Mae, the country's largest home lending source. The company, along with Freddie Mac, says it will buy conforming mortgages at the higher limits through Dec. 31.

Along with a 7.8 percent year-over-year decrease in Pierce County's median home price in February came declines in several of the 16 areas as broken down by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

In fact, six of the areas saw depreciation in the double digits. The largest decline, by percentage? Lakewood, followed closely by Gig Harbor. Median price increases were seen in Fife and North Tacoma, among others. (I’m leaving out Anderson Island again, because so few houses were sold there. I’ll start including it when I do more year-to-date numbers when we get further into 2008.)

Here’s how the February median home prices shook out with the year-over-year increases or decreases. Keep in mind, it’s a one-month look but one that compares this February to last February.