To buy a house, you need to make a down payment. But how much of a down payment you decide to make depends on a lot of factors, including your savings, the price of the house you're buying, and the terms of your loan. Which means, the amount varies from one buyer to the next.
There are, however, some new numbers that can help give prospective home buyers a rough idea of what to expect when the time comes. According to ATTOM Data Solutions' fourth-quarter 2020 U.S. Residential Property Mortgage Origination Report, the median down payment on single-family homes and condos at the end of last year was $24,500. Based on the median sales price of homes sold in the fourth quarter, that represents a nearly 8 percent down payment. It's also a new high and a significant jump from where it was one year earlier, when the median down payment was $13,441.
Why the increase? Put simply, home prices. Already low inventory was driven lower last year by the pandemic and the lack of available homes for sale has driven prices higher. Those increases have caused down payments to grow as well. As the market balances and prices moderate, however, down payments should too.
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