Condo buyers who are on the fence about whether this is a good time or not to buy might want to put this little nugget on the scales: starting 04/01, Fannie Mae is charging 3/4 of a point on any condo loan with a 25% (or smaller) down payment.
For the buyer, the fee is an additional closing cost. For banks, it's an additional insurance policy against those troublesome condo owners who don't pay their mortgage.
The extra cost won't break the bank for most condo buyers, but it's something else they'll have to prepare for. To make it easier on buyers, most lenders I've talked with about it said they'll end up baking it into the loan (ie. charging a slightly higher interest rate).
