How long is an FHA appraisal valid?

The rule in one sentence

Most documents used to originate and underwrite an FHA mortgage cannot be more than 120 days old on the disbursement date. Appraisals are carved out of that rule and have their own clock. The Handbook states it directly: the initial appraisal validity period is 180 days from the effective date of the appraisal report. Two details matter. The clock starts at the effective date of the appraisal report. And it runs to the disbursement date, the day the loan funds, not to the day you sign or the day the contract closes on paper.

How the days are counted

The Handbook includes a counting rule that applies to every day-based period in it: day one is the day after the effective or issue date of the document, whichever is later. That means an appraisal with an effective date of March 1 is on day one on March 2, and day 180 is the 180th calendar day after March 1. In practice you add 180 calendar days to the effective date to find the last day inside the period; the checker above does exactly that and also reports how many days old the appraisal is at your expected disbursement date. For a March 1 effective date the last day of the 180-day period is August 28 in a non-leap year.

A worked example

Suppose the effective date is January 15, 2027 and the purchase is scheduled to close, with funds disbursed, on July 20, 2027. January 15 plus 180 days is July 14, so on July 20 the appraisal is 186 days old, six days past the period. The loan cannot proceed on that report alone. The lender can get an appraisal update. The updated appraisal is valid until one year after the effective date of the initial report, which here is January 15, 2028, so the update would comfortably cover a July 20 disbursement. If the closing slips only to July 14 or earlier no update is needed.

What an appraisal update is and when it works

An appraisal update extends validity without a full new appraisal. The Handbook says an update may be performed where the initial report will be more than 180 days old at disbursement. The lender may order an update only if it is listed as an intended user of the original appraisal or has obtained an appraisal transfer with permission from the original client and the appraiser. The update may be used only if: it is performed by an FHA appraiser in good standing on the roster (a substitute appraiser must state they concur with the original analysis, and the lender must document why the original appraiser was not used); the property has not declined in value; the building improvements that contribute value can be observed from the street or a public way; the property meets the minimum property requirements based on the original conditions; the update is done within one year of the effective date of the initial appraisal; and it is done before the disbursement date.

Why the one-year limit matters

Because the update must be done within one year of the initial effective date, there is a hard outer edge. A purchase that drags past 365 days from the original effective date cannot be saved by an update; the lender would need a new appraisal. The Handbook does not describe a further extension. For borrowers with delays such as construction, a late-moving seller or a financing problem, the advice is to watch the day count, not the contract date.

Other clocks that run alongside

The appraisal is not the only item with a limit. Other underwriting documents generally cannot be more than 120 days old at disbursement, except documents that stay valid regardless of time, such as divorce decrees or tax returns. A required well water test report may not be more than 180 days old at disbursement either; see the well and septic page. A good habit is to list each document's date and the disbursement date side by side early, since a closing that moves by two weeks can push several items over at once.

What this page does not decide

This page counts days under the forward-mortgage text. Reverse mortgages (HECM) use the same 180-day wording in their own section, but this page is about standard forward mortgages. Your lender decides what date is the effective date on your report and when funds will actually be disbursed. FHA appraisals also have other rules, such as disaster-area provisions, that this page does not cover.

Sources

• HUD Handbook 4000.1, FHA Single Family Housing Policy Handbook, Update 18 PDF: Applications and Disclosures, Appraisal Validity, pp. 126-127; Ordering an Update to an Appraisal, p. 148. Read November 2, 2026.
• HUD, Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1 information page. Read November 2, 2026.

Text read: HUD Handbook 4000.1, FHA Single Family Housing Policy Handbook, the clean Update 18 PDF that HUD links from its Handbook 4000.1 information page (HUD lists it as the August 12, 2026 update). Section headings carry their own effective dates, given above for this page. A heading with two dates, such as (11/10/2026)(06/27/2025), shows a revised date written over the prior one. Confirm current dollar limits and premium rates with an FHA-approved lender. This page paraphrases the Handbook and does not replace it. Page numbers cited are the Handbook's own and may be approximate; use the section headings to locate the text.