- That’s up from 15% a year ago. The typical U.S. homebuyer now puts down roughly $63,000, about $4,000 more than last year, because of a jump in home prices.
- About 31% of buyers are purchasing homes using all cash, down from about 34% a year earlier.
- 15% of mortgaged homebuyers are using FHA loans, and roughly 7% are using VA loans.
The typical U.S. homebuyer’s down payment was equal to 16.3% of the purchase price in December, up from 15% a year earlier.
In dollar terms, the typical homebuyer’s down payment was $63,188. That’s up 7.5% from a year earlier, the biggest increase in five months.
The data in this report is from a Redfin analysis of county records across 40 of the most populous U.S. metropolitan areas. December 2024 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.
The amount of money homebuyers are putting down is higher than a year ago mainly because home prices are up: A higher price means buyers typically make a bigger deposit. The median U.S. home-sale price rose 6.3% year over year in December, to roughly $428,000.
The percentage buyers are putting down is relatively high because mortgage rates are elevated near 7%, and some buyers are putting down more up front to bring down their monthly interest payments.
Down payments are no longer seeing the wild swings they were during the pandemic. The median U.S. down payment rose from the 10% range before the pandemic to the 15% range in 2021, which was the height of the pandemic homebuying frenzy. Mortgage rates also drove that increase, but the dynamics were very different then: Record-low rates of under 3% were fueling intense bidding wars among homebuyers, which motivated many to put more money down to make their offers stand out in a competitive environment.
“While a larger down payment can lower monthly mortgage payments and help strengthen an offer in a bidding war, bigger isn’t always better,” said Sheharyar Bokhari, a senior economist at Redfin. “Housing markets in much of the country have started tilting in buyers’ favor, allowing buyers to set the terms they want. That means house hunters don’t necessarily need to break the bank for a huge down payment if it makes more financial sense to save some money for things like future home renovations or other investments.”
31% of Homebuyers Pay in Cash, Down From 34% a Year Ago
Roughly three in 10 (30.6%) U.S. homes were bought with all cash in December. That’s down from 33.8% a year earlier, but up from September’s three-year low of 28.6%.
The share of buyers paying in cash peaked in 2023 because that’s when mortgage rates peaked, hitting a two-decade high of nearly 8%. Buyers who can afford to pay in cash are more inclined to do so when rates are high because they’re avoiding high monthly interest payments, and saving money in the long run.
Mortgage rates have since come down slightly and evened out in the 6% to 7% range, bringing down the share of buyers who are paying in all cash. Additionally, investors–who make up a big share of all-cash buyers–are purchasing fewer homes.
On an annual basis, 32.6% of 2024’s home sales were made in cash, the lowest share in three years.
15% of Mortgaged Homebuyers Use FHA Loans, Little Changed From a Year Ago
Roughly one of every seven (15%) mortgaged home sales used an FHA loan in December, down slightly from 15.9% a year earlier but up from mid-2022’s decade-low of roughly 10% .
The share of mortgaged home sales using a VA loan rose to 6.7%, from 6.2% 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 loans now than in late 2021 and early 2022, when the ultra-competitive environment favored buyers with higher down payments and more ability to prove their financial security. Now, buyers are more likely to get an offer using an FHA loan accepted. Additionally, higher home prices mean more buyers find it hard to afford large down payments, making FHA loans more popular.
Conventional loans are by far the most common type of mortgage. Nearly four in five (78.4%) borrowers used a conventional loan in December, little changed from 77.9% a year earlier.
Metro-Level Highlights
The data below is from December 2024, the most recent month for which data is available, and covers 40 of the most populous U.S. metros.
- Down payments
-
-
- Down-payment percentages were highest in San Francisco, where the typical homebuyer put down 26.4% of the purchase price. It’s followed by two other California metros: Anaheim and San Jose, at 25% apiece.
- They were lowest in Virginia Beach, VA (3%), Detroit (6.5%) and Baltimore (8.5%).
- They fell in 8 of the metros we analyzed, with the biggest declines in Portland, OR (-4.6 percentage points to 15.4%), Orlando, FL (-3 pts. to 15%) and Jacksonville, FL (-2.1 pts. to 10%).
- They rose most in Charlotte, NC (4.1 pts. to 14.1%), Minneapolis (1.4 pts. to 11.4%) and San Francisco (1.4 pts. to 26.4%).
-
- FHA loans
-
-
- FHA loans were most prevalent in Riverside, CA, where 25.4% of mortgaged home sales used one. Next come Providence, RI (25.1%) and Las Vegas (24.3%).
- They were least prevalent in California: San Francisco (2.1%), San Jose (2.2%) and Anaheim (5%).
- The use of FHA loans increased most in Detroit (3.8 pts. to 20.6%), Tampa, FL (3.4 pts. to 23.2%) and Anaheim (2.4 pts. to 5%).
- Their use declined most in Riverside (-4.3 pts. To 25.4%), Los Angeles (-3.9 pts. to 13.2%) and Minneapolis (-3.7 pts. to 8.8%).
-
- VA loans
-
-
- VA loans were most prevalent in Virginia Beach, VA (39%), Jacksonville (16.3%) and Washington, D.C. (14.3%). Those metros all have a large military presence.
- They were least prevalent in the Bay Area: San Jose (less than 1%), San Francisco (1.5%) and Oakland (1.8%).
- The use of VA loans increased most in Sacramento, CA (2.7 pts. to 6.8%), Riverside (2.6 pts. to 7.3%) and San Diego (2.5 pts. to 14.2%).
- Their use declined most in Cincinnati (-3 pts. to 5.3%), Jacksonville (-1.2 pts. to 16.3%) and Philadelphia (-0.8 pts. to 2.9%).
-
- All cash
-
- All-cash home purchases were most prevalent in West Palm Beach, FL, where more than half (50.4%) of homes were bought in cash. Next came Cleveland (46%) and Jacksonville (39.3%).
- They were least prevalent in Oakland (16.2%), San Jose (17.8%) and Seattle (18.8%).
- They increased most in Baltimore (4 pts. to 37%), Cleveland (2.8 pts. to 46%) and Warren, MI (0.6 pts. to 31.4%).
- They declined most in Riverside (-11.3 pts. to 31.5%), Jacksonville (-9.4 pts. to 39.3%) and Atlanta (-9.1 pts. to 31.7%).
| Metro-level summary: Down payments, all cash and loan types, Dec. 2024
40 most populous U.S. metros |
|||||
| U.S. metro area | Median down payment (%) | Median down payment ($) | Share of homes bought in cash | Share of mortgaged home sales using FHA loan | Share of mortgaged home sales using VA loan |
| Anaheim, CA | 25.0% | $284,650 | 28.6% | 5.0% | 2.0% |
| Atlanta, GA | 10.0% | $37,500 | 31.7% | 18.8% | 6.5% |
| Baltimore, MD | 8.5% | $28,400 | 37.0% | 18.0% | 8.8% |
| Charlotte, NC | 14.1% | $50,000 | 33.7% | 13.1% | 6.5% |
| Chicago, IL | 10.1% | $37,500 | 25.9% | 14.3% | 3.1% |
| Cincinnati, OH | 10.0% | $32,500 | 34.6% | 15.2% | 5.3% |
| Cleveland, OH | 10.0% | $20,000 | 46.0% | 17.5% | 5.8% |
| Columbus, OH | 10.0% | $34,000 | 27.7% | 13.4% | 6.6% |
| Denver, CO | 15.0% | $84,427 | 27.1% | 15.4% | 6.7% |
| Detroit, MI | 6.5% | $14,795 | 39.0% | 20.6% | 4.3% |
| Fort Lauderdale, FL | 20.0% | $60,200 | 37.6% | 18.6% | 3.8% |
| Jacksonville, FL | 10.0% | $34,700 | 39.3% | 19.8% | 16.3% |
| Las Vegas, NV | 10.0% | $42,024 | 31.3% | 24.3% | 10.4% |
| Los Angeles, CA | 20.0% | $182,000 | 20.9% | 13.2% | 3.1% |
| Miami, FL | 20.0% | $86,125 | 39.1% | 15.7% | 2.7% |
| Milwaukee, WI | 10.3% | $32,000 | 33.5% | 9.2% | 4.5% |
| Minneapolis, MN | 11.4% | $42,000 | 28.5% | 8.8% | 4.3% |
| Montgomery County, PA | 20.0% | $80,000 | 30.8% | 9.4% | 4.2% |
| Nashville, TN | 10.8% | $50,050 | 34.8% | 18.1% | 7.5% |
| New Brunswick, NJ | 20.0% | $102,250 | 32.9% | 11.2% | 3.2% |
| New York, NY | 20.0% | $178,750 | 34.4% | 7.9% | 1.8% |
| Newark, NJ | 20.0% | $89,450 | 21.6% | 15.7% | 3.4% |
| Oakland, CA | 20.0% | $200,250 | 16.2% | 7.7% | 1.8% |
| Orlando, FL | 15.0% | $56,250 | 34.2% | 19.2% | 7.3% |
| Philadelphia, PA | 10.0% | $27,013 | 34.7% | 17.3% | 2.9% |
| Phoenix, AZ | 10.0% | $50,000 | 33.4% | 19.0% | 7.7% |
| Pittsburgh, PA | 10.0% | $23,500 | 28.1% | 14.0% | 5.4% |
| Portland, OR | 15.4% | $75,000 | 21.0% | 16.2% | 5.0% |
| Providence, RI | 11.1% | $51,768 | 20.8% | 25.1% | 5.8% |
| Riverside, CA | 11.4% | $64,450 | 31.5% | 25.4% | 7.3% |
| Sacramento, CA | 20.0% | $83,750 | 22.5% | 14.9% | 6.8% |
| San Diego, CA | 20.0% | $169,966 | 22.2% | 10.1% | 14.2% |
| San Francisco, CA | 26.4% | $375,000 | 27.9% | 2.1% | 1.5% |
| San Jose, CA | 25.0% | $386,000 | 17.8% | 2.2% | 0.8% |
| Seattle, WA | 20.0% | $163,625 | 18.8% | 7.3% | 3.4% |
| Tampa, FL | 10.0% | $35,000 | 38.9% | 23.2% | 10.5% |
| Virginia Beach, VA | 3.0% | $10,033 | 22.2% | 15.9% | 39.0% |
| Warren, MI | 10.9% | $33,500 | 31.4% | 11.4% | 4.4% |
| Washington, DC | 10.0% | $57,875 | 21.9% | 13.9% | 14.3% |
| West Palm Beach, FL | 20.0% | $75,500 | 50.4% | 15.9% | 4.0% |
United States
Canada