HOTMA Income and Asset Rules: The 2026 Thresholds

The two HOTMA sections driving every compliance date on the calendar do different things.

Section 102 addresses income — how it is calculated, which sources are excluded, and how and when income is reexamined. Among the changes HUD has already made mandatory for PIH programs are a set of new income exclusions, revised definitions, and required policies governing de minimis errors in income determinations.

Section 104 imposes limits that did not previously exist in this form, codified at 24 CFR 5.618 — a ceiling on net family assets, and a restriction tied to ownership of real property.

### The 2026 dollar thresholds

The figures in Section 104 are not fixed. The regulation sets statutory bases of $100,000 for net family assets and $50,000 for self-certification, each "adjusted annually by HUD in accordance with the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers." HUD publishes the adjusted values each year.

Effective January 1, 2026:

| Value | Amount |

|---|---|

| Eligibility restriction on net family assets | $105,574 |

| Threshold above which imputed returns must be calculated | $52,787 |

| Threshold above which the total value of nonnecessary personal property is included | $52,787 |

| Net assets for which self-certification may be accepted | $52,787 |

| Passbook savings rate | 0.40% |

The same table sets income exclusions and deductions: $500 for the earned income of dependent full-time students, $500 for adoption assistance payments, a $550 mandatory deduction for elderly and disabled families, and $500 for a dependent.

Two practical implications follow. First, any policy document, training deck, or software configuration still carrying the $100,000 and $50,000 statutory bases rather than the current adjusted values is out of date. Second, because these values change annually, the figures above will be superseded — HOTMA procedures should pull the current-year table from HUD USER rather than hard-code a number.

### The real property restriction is narrower than it sounds

This is the provision most often described loosely, and getting it wrong in either direction has consequences.

Under 24 CFR 5.618, the restriction does not attach to a family simply owning property. The regulation reaches a family with "a present ownership interest in, a legal right to reside in, and the effective legal authority to sell" suitable real property. All three elements. A family holding a fractional interest in inherited property it cannot occupy or cannot sell does not automatically fall within the restriction.

The regulation also carves out four exceptions, covering property where the family is receiving homeownership assistance under 24 CFR 982.620; property jointly owned with a person not on the lease who resides there; families who are victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault or stalking; and property the family is offering for sale.

Read the section itself before applying it to a household. The consequence of getting this wrong is denying assistance to a family that qualifies.

• Where the tracks agree and differ

The substance of Sections 102 and 104 is the same across all three implementation tracks. What differs is the date each HUD office requires compliance and the documentation standards attached. Notice H 2025-07, for example, frames the multifamily obligation as full compliance with both the final rule and HUD's updated income and asset documentation requirements for income certifications — the documentation standards travel with the substantive rules.