Homebuyers need more than $127K for a down payment: Zillow

Story at a glance

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• Homebuyers making the median income now need to put down a 35 percent down payment to afford a typical U.S. home, according to a Zillow analysis.

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• That comes out to more than $127,000 on a $360,000 house.

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• In some markets, particularly California, the analysis found that homebuyers need to put down over 80 percent.

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(NewsNation) — A 20% down payment is no longer the norm: In today’s market homebuyers need to put down 35% to comfortably afford a typical U.S. home, according to a new analysis.

A recent study by Zillow found that a household making the median income would need to put down nearly $127,750, or 35.4%, to afford the monthly payments on a $360,000 home today.

Assuming a household saves 10% of its income each month with a 4% annual return, it would take 12 years of saving just to cover the down payment.

Five years ago, when mortgage rates were hovering just above 4%, the typical home would have been affordable with no money down, the report said.

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“Stubbornly high mortgage rates have pushed both buyers and sellers to the sidelines. With so few homes for sale, competition is stiff among the remaining buyers,” Zillow said.

Zillow defined affordable as a mortgage payment that takes up no more than 30% of the typical income in the area. The analysis included 50 of the biggest metro areas in the country.

In some markets, particularly in California, homebuyers need to put down over 80% to afford the monthly payments on a typical household income.

In San Jose, a median-income household would need to put down $1.32 million to afford a typical home in the area. In Los Angeles, a household would need to put down $780,203. Both those down payments would take over 36 years to save up based on the median income in the area.

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San Diego, New York City and San Francisco were also among the most expensive markets.

However, there are still pockets of affordability around the country. In 10 major metropolitan areas, the typical home is affordable to a median-income household with less than 20% down, Zillow found. Most of those are in the Midwest.

Pittsburgh has the most affordable housing market, where a median-income household can still afford a typical home with no money down. The down payment needed in major markets like St. Louis (4.5%), Detroit (9.5%) and Indianapolis (9.8%) is also below the national average.

The median household income in the U.S. was $74,580 in 2022, according to Census data.

Ten cities where the average buyer needs the highest down payment (%) to afford a typical home, according to Zillow:

1. Los Angeles: 81.1%

2. San Jose, California: 80.9%

3. San Diego: 75.5%

4. New York: 75.3%

5. San Francisco: 75.0%

6. Miami: 64.5%

7. Boston: 61.7%

8. Riverside, California: 61.4%

9. Seattle: 61.3%

10. Sacramento, California: 57.6%

Ten cities where the average buyer needs the lowest down payment (%) to afford a typical home, according to Zillow:

1. Pittsburgh: 0%

2. St. Louis: 4.2%

3. Birmingham, Alabama: 7.6%

4. Detroit: 9.5%

5. Indianapolis: 9.8%

6. Memphis, Tennessee: 12.7%

7. Oklahoma City: 13.3%

8. Cleveland: 13.7%

9. Louisville, Kentucky: 18.1%

10. New Orleans: 19.1%

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