"Coming up with a down payment is often one of the biggest hurdles for homebuyers. The good news for homebuyers is that the time it takes to save for a down payment has decreased in recent years. The bad news is that the median down payment is still about double what it was before the pandemic. It took the typical household seven years to save for a down payment in 2025, down from a peak of 12 years in 2022, according to an analysis from Realtor.com."
"However, with home prices steadily increasing in several cities around the country, the amount required for a competitive down payment is also up. "Higher home prices and intensified competition have pushed typical down payments higher, at the same time that inflation and rising household expenses have reduced savings rates," Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, said. "Although conditions have improved since 2022, today's timeline shows that saving for a home takes meaningfully longer than it did before the pandemic, especially in high-cost markets.""
Saving for a home down payment now takes a median of seven years for the typical household in 2025, down from a 12-year peak in 2022. The calculation assumes households save 5.1% of income, the 2025 national average savings rate. Median down payment amounts roughly doubled from about $13,900 in third-quarter 2019 to $30,400 in third-quarter 2025. Rising home prices and intensified competition have increased required down payments, while inflation and higher household expenses have reduced savings rates. Extremely high-cost markets can require decades to save; one metro reaches 36.5 years for a typical down payment.
Read at Business Insider
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