FHA Loans

FHA loans in Riverside, CA: 2026 limits and what buyers actually pay

Updated November 13, 2026

By Vinura Abeysundara

Head of Growth at TurboHome

Reviewed by:

Vinura Abeysundara

Head of Growth at TurboHome

Kevin Kretzmer

Head Agent, California · CalDRE #01997822

One Riverside home sale in five closed with an FHA loan from May through October 2026: 21.0% of sales with a recorded financing type, up from 19.9% a year earlier and the highest FHA share of the six California cities in this series. FHA buyers paid a median $620,000, against $673,750 citywide, and the 2026 FHA loan limit for a one-unit home in Riverside County is $690,000. FHA closings came in at a median 100.58% of list, while cash closings came in below list at 98.82%; FHA homes sat a median 23.5 days on market against 16 for cash.

TurboHome Market Analysis · 1,182 closings · May 1 to Oct 31, 2026 · Last updated November 13, 2026

This guide answers two questions with local data: can you buy a home in Riverside with an FHA loan, and how do FHA offers fare against cash. It uses 1,182 single-family, condo and townhouse closings in our MLS feed from May 1 to October 31, 2026, of which 1,150 (97.3%) recorded a single financing type.

What is the FHA loan limit in Riverside?

The 2026 FHA loan limit for a one-unit home in Riverside County is $690,000, according to HUD's FHA mortgage limits lookup (checked November 13, 2026). 56.1% of Riverside closings from May through October 2026 were priced at or under that figure. Riverside County's limit is the lowest of the five California counties in this series, and the citywide median of $673,750 sits just under it.

Nationally, the 2026 FHA one-unit limit runs from a floor of $541,287 in lower-cost areas to a ceiling of $1,249,125 in high-cost areas. For comparison, the 2026 conforming loan limit is $832,750, with a high-cost ceiling of $1,249,125.

The limit caps the loan amount, not the price. A buyer can pay more than the limit with a larger down payment, so the share of homes priced at or under it understates what FHA can reach.

The FHA rules that decide whether you qualify, from HUD Handbook 4000.1 (checked November 13, 2026):

Down payment and credit score: at least 3.5% down with a credit score of 580 or higher, and at least 10% down with a score from 500 to 579. Scores under 500 are not eligible.
Upfront mortgage insurance: 1.75% of the base loan amount.
Annual mortgage insurance on loans longer than 15 years: 0.50% to 0.55% of the loan a year for base loan amounts up to $726,200, and 0.70% to 0.75% above that, depending on the down payment. With less than 10% down it lasts for the life of the loan; with 10% or more down, 11 years.
Seller and agent credits: interested parties, including the seller and real estate agents, can contribute up to 6% of the sales price toward closing costs, prepaid items and discount points, but not toward the minimum down payment.

How many buyers in Riverside actually use an FHA loan

1,150 of 1,182 Riverside closings from May through October 2026 (97.3%) recorded a single financing type. Of those, 21.0% used an FHA loan (242 closings), against 19.9% in the same months of 2025. FHA and VA both gained a little, FHA from 19.9% to 21.0% and VA from 5.4% to 5.5%, while cash fell from 14.3% to 12.9% and conventional loans from 54.6% to 54.1%.

How Riverside buyers paid, share of closings with a single recorded financing type, data table
Financing	Share, May to Oct 2026	Share, May to Oct 2025
FHA	21.0%	19.9%
VA	5.5%	5.4%
Cash	12.9%	14.3%
Conventional	54.1%	54.6%

FHA buyers paid a median $620,000, against $602,500 in the same months of 2025. The citywide median was $673,750, up 2.9% from $655,000, and the median home sold in 20 days, against 24 a year earlier.

Where FHA buyers are closing in Riverside

FHA share. Every figure is in the table below.

Riverside neighborhoods with at least 20 closings with a recorded financing type, May 1 to October 31, 2026, by volume. A dash means the neighborhood had no FHA closings. Neighborhood FHA medians rest on few closings., data table
Neighborhood	Closings	FHA	VA	Cash	Median price	Median FHA price
Orangecrest	107	13.1%	5.6%	9.3%	$750,000	$712,500
Woodcrest	100	10.0%	11.0%	15.0%	$931,500	$702,500
Magnolia Center	92	28.3%	2.2%	18.5%	$592,500	$607,500
Canyon Crest	77	5.2%	5.2%	14.3%	$712,000	$705,000
La Sierra	70	18.6%	8.6%	8.6%	$660,000	$650,000
El Sobrante	53	9.4%	3.8%	7.5%	$845,000	$720,000
Ramona - Riverside	49	38.8%	4.1%	2.0%	$605,000	$605,000
Arlington	44	40.9%	4.5%	11.4%	$583,995	$584,995
Highgrove	43	27.9%	9.3%	16.3%	$699,990	$572,500
Victoria	43	14.0%	11.6%	11.6%	$710,000	$632,500
Mission Grove	42	2.4%	4.8%	26.2%	$720,000	$632,309
University of California Riverside	42	14.3%	9.5%	11.9%	$577,500	$610,000
Arlanza	39	43.6%	2.6%	17.9%	$595,000	$625,000
La Sierra South	34	17.6%	8.8%	8.8%	$680,000	$628,500

Arlanza (43.6%) and Arlington (40.9%) are the most FHA-dependent neighborhoods in the city, followed by Ramona - Riverside at 38.8%, Magnolia Center at 28.3% and Highgrove at 27.9%. All five have neighborhood medians under $700,000.

Mission Grove is the opposite: the lowest FHA share of the 14 listed neighborhoods, 2.4%, and the highest cash share, 26.2%.

In Arlanza the median FHA buyer paid $625,000, above the neighborhood's overall median of $595,000, so FHA buyers there were not simply buying the cheapest homes.

FHA by price range in Riverside

Share of Riverside closings by financing type and sale price, May 1 to October 31, 2026, data table
Price range	Closings	FHA	VA	Cash
Under $300K	20	0%	5.0%	35.0%
$300K to $500K	106	19.8%	4.7%	34.9%
$500K to $750K	669	31.7%	4.9%	9.4%
$750K to $1M	240	3.8%	6.3%	10.0%
$1M to $1.5M	82	0%	9.8%	12.2%
$1.5M and up	33	0%	3.0%	21.2%

31.7% of closings from $500,000 to $750,000 used an FHA loan, 669 of the city's 1,150 coded closings fell in that band, and no other price band in the six California cities reached that FHA share. Above $750,000, FHA drops to 3.8%, and no closing over $1 million used one.

Do sellers accept FHA offers in Riverside?

Here is how Riverside closings compared by how the buyer paid. The closed sales show what each group paid and how long the home sat on the market, not why a seller picked one offer over another.

Riverside closings by financing type, May 1 to October 31, 2026. Sale-to-list is the closed price divided by the final list price., data table
Financing	Closings	Median price	Median days on market	Median sale-to-list	Closed above asking	Closed below asking
FHA	242	$620,000	23.5	100.58%	55.8%	24.8%
Conventional	622	$707,495	19	100.00%	43.4%	34.7%
Cash	148	$600,000	16	98.82%	25.0%	60.8%
VA	63	$700,000	23	100.00%	46.0%	25.4%

FHA closings came in at a median 100.58% of list, above conventional loans and VA at 100.00% and cash at 98.82%, and 55.8% of FHA closings went above asking, the highest of the four types. 60.8% of cash closings came in below asking.

FHA homes took a median 23.5 days to sell, against 23 for VA, 19 for conventional loans and 16 for cash. Cash buyers here paid a lower median price than FHA buyers ($600,000 against $620,000).

Condos and FHA in Riverside

21.0% of Riverside's single-family closings and 8.0% of its condo closings used an FHA loan. Of the FHA closings, 89.3% were single-family homes and 2.5% condos. In Riverside FHA is a house loan: 89.3% of FHA closings were single-family homes and 2.5% were condos, and 21.0% of single-family closings used FHA against 8.0% of condo closings.

FHA insures a condo loan only when the unit is in an FHA-approved condominium project, meets FHA's site condominium definition or has completed FHA's Single-Unit Approval (HUD Handbook 4000.1), so ask your lender to check the building before you write an offer.

What this means for your offer in Riverside

In Riverside an FHA offer is ordinary: one buyer in five closed with one, and in Arlanza, Arlington and Ramona - Riverside it was closer to two in five.

Check how much you can borrow before you shop above the $690,000 county limit, then price your offer from comparable sales in the neighborhood rather than from the list price alone.

Freddie Mac's weekly survey put the average 30-year fixed rate at 7.11% on November 12, 2026, down from 7.18% the week before and up from 6.24% a year earlier. FHA quotes differ from that average, so compare an FHA quote with a conventional one with mortgage insurance included.

TurboHome's own California buyers took a median 28 days from accepted offer to closing on a conventional loan, against 14 days with cash (closings November 1, 2025 to October 31, 2026). Our own FHA closings are too few to report a median. The median TurboHome buyer refund in California was $14,663. 59% of TurboHome's California buyers who stated a preference (91 of 155) chose cash credits at closing. On an FHA purchase, a cash credit at closing counts toward HUD's 6% limit on interested party contributions and can pay closing costs, prepaid items and discount points, but not the 3.5% down payment.

Before a TurboHome buyer writes an offer, their agent runs a comparable-based valuation of the home and an AI offer-acceptance prediction, so the offer price rests on recent sales of similar homes rather than a citywide average.

Methodology

Source: TurboHome's MLS closings data (our MLS feed), closings from May 1 to October 31, 2026, compared with May 1 to October 31, 2025.

Filters: single-family homes, condos and townhouses only; closings under $50,000 excluded. Financing shares use only closings where the MLS buyer-financing field carries a single value: 1,150 of 1,182 Riverside closings (97.3%). The financing mix counts every closing with a single recorded financing type. The table comparing financing types also requires a recorded days on market from 0 to 730 days, which drops a few listings per city, so its FHA count and median can differ slightly from the financing mix. Neighborhoods are those with at least 20 such closings. Prices, days on market and sale-to-list ratios are medians.

Coverage: Buyer financing is not reported in every MLS. San Francisco, Houston and Katy have almost no buyer-financing data (8% of San Francisco closings carry a financing code, and under 1% of Houston closings), and in Los Angeles and Pasadena the closings with a financing code skew far cheaper than those without one ($845,000 against $1,450,000 in Los Angeles). We left those cities out of this series rather than publish a biased share. Sacramento is left out because its sample is too small.

FHA loan limits: the Riverside County one-unit limit is from HUD's FHA mortgage limits lookup (FHA Forward, CY2026), checked November 13, 2026. These are the 2026 limits. HUD announced them in December 2025, and they apply to FHA case numbers assigned January 1 through December 31, 2026, so expect new figures for 2027. National floor and ceiling: NAR (December 11, 2025) and NAHB. Conforming limits: Rocket Mortgage (updated January 5, 2026).

FHA rules: HUD Handbook 4000.1, last revised November 26, 2025, checked November 13, 2026; annual mortgage insurance rates from Mortgagee Letter 2023-05. Mortgage rate: Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, November 12, 2026.

TurboHome figures: TurboHome's own closings over $50,000 from November 1, 2025 to October 31, 2026. Our own FHA and VA closings are too few to report as medians.

FAQ

What is the FHA loan limit in Riverside in 2026?

$690,000 for a one-unit home. Riverside is in Riverside County, and that is HUD's 2026 FHA limit for the county (checked November 13, 2026); 56.1% of Riverside closings from May through October 2026 were priced at or under it. The limits apply to FHA case numbers assigned in 2026 and are expected to change for 2027.

How many Riverside home buyers use an FHA loan?

21.0% of Riverside closings with a recorded financing type used an FHA loan from May through October 2026 (242 closings), against 19.9% in the same months of 2025. FHA buyers paid a median $620,000, against $673,750 citywide.

Do sellers in Riverside accept FHA offers?

Yes. From May through October 2026, FHA closings in Riverside came in at a median 100.58% of list price and 55.8% went above asking, against 98.82% and 25.0% for cash. FHA homes took longer to sell, a median 23.5 days against 16 for cash.

Can I use a buyer's agent rebate with an FHA loan?

Usually yes, as a credit toward closing costs. HUD's FHA handbook (4000.1, last revised November 26, 2025, checked November 13, 2026) counts real estate agents and sellers as interested parties, and together they can contribute up to 6% of the sales price toward your origination fees, other closing costs, prepaid items and discount points. Those contributions cannot pay the 3.5% minimum down payment, and anything above 6% or above your actual costs is treated as an inducement that lowers the price your loan is based on, so tell your lender about the rebate early.

Who are the flat-fee buyer's agents in Riverside?

TurboHome is a flat-fee buyer's brokerage with licensed agents in Riverside. Its agents handle tours, offers, negotiation and closing for a flat fee instead of a percentage commission, and TurboHome refunds the rest of the buyer-side commission to the buyer at closing. For other companies that refund part of the commission, see the companies that refund the buyer's agent commission in California.

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