According to ATTOM Data Solutions’ recently released Q3 2020 U.S. Residential Property Mortgage Origination Report, the median down payment on single-family homes and condos purchased with financing in Q3 2020 was up 48.9 percent from Q2 2020 and 68.6 percent from Q3 2019, to the highest level recorded since at least 2000.
ATTOM’s third quarter mortgage origination analysis revealed that the median down payment of $20,775 was 6.6 percent of the median sales price for homes purchased with financing in Q3 2020, up from 5 percent in Q2 2020 and up from 4.7 percent in Q3 2019.
The report stated that among homes purchased in Q3 2020, the median loan amount was $275,500 – also a new high since 2000. The amount was up 10.3 percent from Q2 2020 and 24.2 percent from Q3 2019.
In this post, we take a deep data dive among U.S. metro areas with a population greater than 200,000 and 1,000 or more loans originated in the third quarter, to uncover the top 10 metros with the highest median down payments on single-family homes and condos purchased with financing in Q3 2020.
The top 10 metros with the highest median down payments in Q3 2020 were: San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA ($243,000); Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA ($154,000); Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA ($138,300); Boulder, CO ($123,600); Santa Rosa, CA ($118,550); San Diego-Carlsbad, CA ($112,000); Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT ($106,600); Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH ($76,000); Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, FL ($76,000); and Fort Collins, CO ($69,125).
ATTOM’s Q3 2020 mortgage origination analysis also reported that with interest rates dipping below 3 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate loan, home mortgages originated in Q3 2020 represented an estimated $974.1 billion in total dollar volume. That number was up 20 percent from Q2 2020 and 52 percent from Q3 2019, to the highest point since 2005.
According to the report, the increases came in part from a jump in purchase mortgages, which grew faster on a quarterly basis than the number of refinance loans for the first time in more than a year. Lenders issued roughly 1.05 million home-purchase mortgages in Q3 2020, up 28 percent from Q2 2020 and 25 percent from Q3 2019. The dollar amount of purchase loans jumped to $336.3 billion Q3 2020, a 35 percent increase from Q2 2020 and a 36 percent increase from Q3 2019.
The report noted that while purchase and refinancing activity increased in Q3 2020, home equity lending continued declining, with the dollar volume dipping another 1 percent to the lowest level since 2014. Home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) originated on residential properties in Q3 2020 was down 7.1 percent from Q2 2020 and 28.7 percent from Q3 2019.
ATTOM’s Q3 2020 report noted that mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) accounted for 336,272, or 10.3 percent of all residential property loans originated in the third quarter of 2020. That was up from 9.4 percent of all loans in the second quarter of 2020, but down from and 13.2 percent in the third quarter of 2019.
The analysis also mentioned that residential loans backed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) accounted for 8.7 percent of all residential property loans originated in Q3 2020, the same percentage as in Q2 2020 but down slightly from 8.8 percent in Q3 2019.
Want to learn more about home purchase down payments and other mortgage origination trends in your area? Contact us to find out how!
