New money is about to flow into an area of the real estate market that has been hardest squeezed by the credit crisis: mortgages too large to be purchased or backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or the Federal Housing Administration.

Bank of America, the country’s largest mortgage lender, is rolling out a large program to finance loans between about $730,000 and $1.5 million, with fixed 30-year rates starting in the upper 5% range. The loans will be available through the bank’s retail network and through its Countrywide Home Loans subsidiary.

If you’ve been postponing a purchase, sale or refi because the loan amount you need is too big for Fannie, Freddie or FHA, check out the new, non-Wall Street sources of jumbos.

Full Article by Kenneth Harney of the LA Times: New supply of ‘jumbo’ financing in pipeline