Homebuyers increasing percentage of down payment

Homebuyers are putting more money for down payments.

ATTOM Realty Solutions found that the median down payment for single-family homes and condos was $20,000 for the third quarter of 2017, an increase of nearly $2,000 from the second quarter, and up more than $5,000 year-to-year. It’s a new high since the company began tracking in the first quarter of 2000. In 12 of the 99 metro areas analyzed, the median down payment surpassed $50,000.

With the median sales price for this quarter being $263,000, the median down payment represents 7.6 percent. This is a four-year high, and up 0.6 percent from the previous quarter. In Pennsylvania, down payments ranged from 2.7 percent (York/Hanover) to 7.9 percent (Philadelphia).

“Buying a home has become a full-contact sport in many markets across the country, and buyers with the beefiest down payments — not to mention all-cash buyers — are often able to muscle out those with scrawnier savings,” said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president with ATTOM Data Solutions. “Despite the increasingly competitive nature of homebuying, the number of residential property purchase loans nationwide increased to a 10-year high in the third quarter.”

Additionally, close to 2.4 million loans were taken out, an increase of 17 percent from the last quarter, but down 5 percent year-to-year. Nearly one-quarter of all purchase loans involved co-borrowers, an increase of 0.6 percent from the previous quarter, and 3.3 percent year-to-year. Veterans Affairs loans represented 6.6 percent of loans originated in the third quarter, an increase of 0.1 percent from the previous quarter, but down from 1.1 percent year-to-year.