The typical U.S. homebuyer’s down payment is $62,468, down by roughly 1% year over year, the first annual decline in nearly two years.
The data in this report is from a Redfin analysis of county records across 40 of the most populous U.S. metropolitan areas. April 2025 is the most recent month for which data is available. Down-payment data, along with data below on loan types, is limited to home purchases for which buyers took out a mortgage. An all-cash purchase is one in which there is no mortgage loan information on the deed.
In percentage terms, the typical U.S. homebuyer puts down 15% of the purchase price, essentially unchanged from 15.1% a year earlier.
The median U.S. down payment has been around 15% for the last four years, dipping into the 10% range in early 2023. Before the pandemic, the typical down payment was around 10%.
The last time dollar-amount down payments fell year over year was in summer 2023, when home-sale prices were falling. At that time, the decline in home prices was the main reason down payments were falling: When prices are lower, the percentage buyers put down is lower. Now, home prices are rising; they increased 1.4% year over year in April. But home-price growth is slowing: For comparison, prices were up roughly 4% at this time in 2024. Slowing price growth is one contributor to lower down payments.
Down payments are falling in dollar terms even though overall home prices are rising slightly because not all homebuyers make a down payment; nearly one-third of buyers pay in all cash. (See the third section of this report for more on cash buyers). It’s likely that the people buying homes with a mortgage bought cheaper homes, reducing down payments. That also explains why down payments stayed flat in percentage terms but declined in dollar terms.
Additionally, a slightly higher share of homebuyers are using FHA and VA loans, which require lower down payments. That can push down-payment dollar amounts down. See the next section of this report for more on FHA and VA loans.
Mortgaged homebuyers are likely purchasing cheaper homes because of affordability challenges: Mortgage rates are near 7%, more than double pandemic-era lows, meaning people are ultra-sensitive to cost.
Additionally, there’s an air of economic uncertainty in the U.S.; some house hunters taking out a mortgage may be seeking out cheaper homes so they have more money in their bank account for security.
The overall housing market has cooled, with home sellers outnumbering buyers and the market shifting in buyers’ favor. Sellers in much of the country are willing to negotiate with buyers and give concessions. Some may also be willing to accept lower down payments–which may signal less financial security and a higher chance of the deal falling through–to offload their home.
“The buyers who are moving forward today are being very careful with their finances because with housing costs near record highs, they’re typically spending a big portion of their paycheck to buy a home. I’m seeing an uptick in first-time buyers looking for starter homes,” said Fernanda Kriese, a Redfin Premier agent in Las Vegas. “Combine that with concerns about layoffs and a potential recession, and people are doing things like cross-comparing mortgage origination fees, shopping around for lenders, and looking into down-payment assistance.”
FHA and VA loans Are More Common Than Last Year
Roughly one of every seven (15.3%) of mortgaged sales used an FHA loan in April, up from 14.2% a year earlier. The share of mortgaged home sales using a VA loan was 7.2%. That’s the highest April level since 2020, and up from 6.4% a year earlier.
FHA and VA loans are both insured by the U.S. government. FHA loans, meant for low-to-moderate-income borrowers and popular with first-time homebuyers, have lower financial requirements than conventional loans; typically, they require a 3.5% down payment. VA loans are available to veterans, service members and their surviving spouses, and require little to no down payment.
More homebuyers are using FHA and VA loans now than a year ago–and more buyers are using VA loans than any spring since 2020–because it’s a buyer’s market in much of the country. That means buyers are more likely to get an offer using an FHA or VA loan accepted; in an ultra-competitive market, like we saw in 2021 and early 2022, the market favors buyers with higher down payments and more ability to prove their financial security.
Conventional loans are the most common type of mortgage, by far. Nearly eight in 10 (77.5%) of home loans were conventional in April.
-Dana AndersonI Redfin.com I June 16, 2025
