Beginning Jan. 1, 1999, home buyers will find it's a little cheaper to move into pricier homes than it was in 1998.

Because of rising home values nationwide, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced this fall that they will raise their "loan limits" for mortgages originated next year. In 1999, the two government-chartered corporations will consider as "conforming" first mortgages of as much as $240,000 on single-family homes in the continental U.S. In 1998, the cutoff was $227,150. Anything larger is a jumbo loan, which the agencies do not guarantee.

The change helps make buying a home a little easier for high-end house hunters, because conforming loans generally carry lower rates than jumbos. On Dec. 22, 1998, for example, the average national rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 6.61 percent, while the average jumbo rate was 7.07 percent, according to Bankrate.com data.

The change is part of an annual ritual at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two corporations adjust their loan limits in lock step each year, based on the results of a survey conducted by the Federal Housing Finance Board. That federal agency polls U.S. lenders each month to determine the average value of single family homes bought with conventional mortgages. The 5.66 percent increase in the conforming loan ceiling is a reflection of the average increase in prices nationwide.

In most years, the limits rose, though that hasn't always been the case. They dropped slightly in 1990, and remained steady in 1993, 1994 and 1995, according to government data.

The threshold is 50 percent higher in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.