Home buyers are putting more money down on a home purchase than ever before. The size of down payments during the second quarter climbed to a median of $19,900, a record high, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ research, which dates back to the first quarter of 2000. What’s more, this marks a 19 percent jump from $16,750 in this year’s first quarter.

The median down payment was 7.6 percent of the median sales price of homes purchased with finances during the second quarter, according to the report. That percentage is at a nearly 15-year high.

With higher home prices, California buyers tend to bring the highest down payments. Among 103 metro areas, the places with the largest median down payments in the second quarter were: San Jose, Calif. ($306,000); San Francisco, Calif. ($220,000); Los Angeles, Calif. ($130,000); Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif. ($115,400); and Boulder, Colo. ($107,750).

“Buyers are upping the ante when it comes to down payments, evidenced by the record-high median down payment for homes purchased in the quarter, and an increasing number of buyers are getting help from co-buyers,” says Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions.

The number of loans with co-buyers—which is multiple, nonmarried buyers—that were listed on the sales deed is climbing. A down payment on a co-buyer loan averaged 16.3 percent of the purchase price, which is more than double the average percentage for other buyers. The average down payment with a co-buyer is 51 percent higher than loans without co-buyers ($63,117 versus $41,749).

Source:
“U.S. Refinance Originations Drop to Four-Year Low in Q2 2018,” ATTOM Data Solutions (Sept. 11, 2018)