The Federal Housing Administration unveiled a new policy recognizing lender income from existing or planned Accessory Dwelling Units. 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), announced a new policy that allows lenders to count income from small units of housing built inside, attached to, or on the same property as a primary residence (Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU)) when underwriting a mortgage. This change allows for the inclusion of rental income from the ADU in the borrower’s qualifying income and would allow more borrowers to qualify for FHA financing for properties with ADUs, including 203(k) Rehabilitation mortgages. ADUs can be rented out to tenants, thereby adding to the supply of housing in a community. In addition, this new policy will enable more first-time homebuyers, seniors, and inter-generational families to leverage ADUs to enhance the generational wealth-building potential of homeownership.

FHA defines an ADU as a single habitable living unit with a means of separate ingress and egress that meets the minimum requirements for a living unit. An ADU is a private space that is subordinate in size and can be added to, created within, or detached from a primary one-unit single-family dwelling.

The new policies:

• Allow 75% of the estimated ADU rental income for some borrowers to qualify for an FHA-insured mortgage on a property with an existing ADU. This additional income flexibility will help to increase access to homes with ADUs for homebuyers with limited incomes, allowing them to benefit from the wealth-building opportunity of a property with an ADU.
• Use 50% of the estimated rental income, for some borrowers, from a new ADU the borrower plans to attach to an existing structure, such as in a garage or basement conversion, to qualify for a mortgage under FHA’s Standard 203(k) Rehabilitation Mortgage Insurance Program. This will enable more homeowners with limited incomes to build ADUs, helping them sustain homeownership and expanding the production of ADUs as rental housing.
• Include ADU-specific appraisal requirements for appraisers to clearly identify, analyze, and report on ADU characteristics and the estimated rent the ADU can be expected to generate. The guidance provided in the Mortgagee Letter will assist appraisers to more accurately determine the market value of a property with an ADU and also will help advance the maturation of ADU valuation, thereby increasing access to ADU financing as more cities and states remove zoning barriers.
• Add ADUs to the types of improvements that can be financed under FHA’s mortgages for new construction. This allows new homes to be built with ADUs from the ground up, an important source of ADU production in addition to rehabilitating existing structures.

FHA-approved lenders may begin offering borrowers mortgages on properties with ADUs under the new policies effective immediately.