Most Recent Data Show Increase in Typical Down Payment

Driven by higher home prices and elevated mortgage rates, the amount of money homebuyers are putting down for a home purchase is higher than it was a year ago. Using the most recent available data from county records across 40 of the most populous U.S. metro areas, analysis by residential real estate brokerage Redfin shows that in December 2024, the typical U.S. homebuyer put down $63,188 for a home—approximately $4,000 more than the previous year. This is partly due to a jump in home prices whereby the median U.S. home-sale price rose 6.3% year-over-year in December to about $428,000. Elevated mortgage rates were also motivation for heftier down payments, with buyers seeking to counteract rates of almost 7% by putting down more money to help reduce 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. Read more