Average Price of U.S. House Rises 8.5 Pct WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The October average U.S. house price jumped 8.5 percent from a year ago, setting the stage for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to raise the limit on mortgages they can buy, a Federal Housing Finance Board survey showed on Tuesday. The average house price rose to $264,540 last month from $243,756 in the same month a year ago, the FHFB said in a statement. The increase paves the way for Fannie Mae (FNM.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) -- government-sponsored enterprises that buy mortgages from lenders and hold them or repackage them as securities for investors -- to buy loans up to about $359,500. Their current limit is $333,700. The increase would mean that home buyers could borrow up to that amount, known as the conforming loan limit, at interest rates of about a half of a percentage point lower than for bigger mortgages, referred to as jumbo loans. Assuming a 20 percent down payment, buyers of houses costing up to about $450,000 would qualify for the lower-cost loans. The enterprises may raise their loan purchase ceiling once a year by the rate of change in the FHFB's October survey. Because the companies erred in calculating the 2004 limit, the new conforming loan limit will be increased from $331,400, the FHFB said. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's financial regulator, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, is due to announce the conforming loan limit change later Tuesday. Quelle "Average Price of U.S. House Rises 8.5 Pct" : reuters.com Main page for "Average Price of U.S. House Rises 8.5 Pct"