Even though home prices in the United States are declining, down payments to buy a home continue to reflect that they are still high, according to a report
To buy a house in the United States, one of the first steps prospective homeowners must take is to save enough to put down a large down payment on a mortgage. Of course, due to the variable lifestyle costs from one state to another, there are places where this payment is usually one of the lowest nationally. Here are the 10 cities with the lowest initial payment or down payment in the US.
In general, the down payment or initial payment when applying for a mortgage to buy a house is 20% for private lenders. This percentage may vary depending on the type of mortgage loan you acquire.
Saving a down payment on a house can be challenging, but it depends on where you live. According to a recent Lending Tree study, people who live in cities in the South or Midwest are more likely to scrape together the money to buy a home because they have lower average down payments.
The average down payment in the nation’s 50 largest metro areas rose to $62,611 in September, up 35% from last year, the personal finance website found.
“With home prices showing signs of finally coming down, down payments could also start to fall in the coming months,” LendingTree senior economist Jacob Channel said in the report.
Focusing on cities, there are locations that are more affordable than others. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is the most affordable with a typical down payment of $38,169, according to LendingTree. In St. Louis, Missouri, it’s about $40,113. And in Virginia Beach, Virginia, it costs around $40,530.
According to the study, the 10 cities with the most affordable down payment in the United States for the purchase of a home are:
1. Oklahoma City, Okla.: $38,169
2. St. Louis, Missouri: $40,113
3. Virginia Beach, Virginia: $40,530
4. Louisville, Kentucky: $43,606
5. Memphis, Tennessee: $43,935
6. Cleveland, Ohio: $44,121
7. Cincinnati, Ohio: $44,574
8. New Orleans, Louisiana: $45,580
9. San Antonio, Texas: $46,000
10. Detroit, Michigan: $46,049
These cities are followed by others where you can buy houses with a down payment of less than $50,000, such as Birmingham, Alabama; Kansas City, Missouri; and Milwaukee, according to LendingTree.
According to the report, houses in coastal cities generally require higher down payments, such as in California. This is how the cities with the highest average initial payments are from this state: San José with $142,006 dollars, San Francisco with $131,631 dollars; and Los Angeles at $104,749, according to LendingTree.
Other cities with high down payments include Washington DC at $78,831, while New York City is at $88,195.
Even though the down payment on a house is related to the price of homes, which in a nutshell reflects that the average price of homes in the United States is still high, a separate challenge is mortgage rates, which this week exceeded the 7% on average.