![30% of First-Time Buyers Plan to Put Down Less Than 10% [LendingTree Report]](https://realtytimes.com/images/k2/22235436563c75f27ae42190b0874fa6.jpg)
First-time buyers now spend nearly a quarter of their income on mortgage payments — and even with top credit scores, they’re putting down $63,000 less than repeat buyers.
For our latest report, we analyzed more than 89,000 mortgage purchase inquiries made on the LendingTree platform last year. Here’s what else we uncovered about first-time homebuyers.
- First-time homebuyers are younger, earn less, and have lower credit scores than repeat buyers. On the LendingTree platform, they average 37.5 years old (up from 35.8 a year ago), earn $95,309 a year, and have a 707 credit score. That compares with 50.5 years old, $140,029 in income, and a 736 score among repeat buyers. Even so, first-timers receive nearly as many offers (5.0 versus 5.3).
- First-time buyers put down 13.8% ($55,471) on average, versus 22.8% ($119,270) among repeat buyers. 30.5% plan to put down under 10%, compared with 14.8% of repeat buyers.
- First-time buyers borrow less but pay slightly higher rates. The typical first-time buyer loan is $304,111 at a 6.44% APR, compared with $337,300 at 6.35% for repeat buyers.
- First-time buyers devote a bigger share of their income to housing. Despite a lower average monthly payment ($1,844 vs. $2,030), they spend 23.2% of their income on principal and interest, compared with 17.4% among repeat buyers.
- California dominates first-time buyer markets, claiming 7 of the top 10 metros—led by San Jose (75.2%), Fresno (73.2%), and Los Angeles (72.9%). Boston, New York, and Seattle are the only non-California cities to crack the list.
You can check out the full report here: https://www.lendingtree.com/home/mortgage/first-time-homebuyers-study/
LendingTree's Chief Consumer Finance Analyst, Matt Schulz, says affordability is a huge part of this gap:
“What’s interesting is that first-time buyers aren’t getting dramatically fewer loan offers than repeat buyers, even though their financial profiles tend to be weaker. That suggests lenders still see opportunity in this group. The challenge is what happens after closing. First-time buyers are spending a larger share of their income on their mortgage each month, which can leave less room in the budget for everything else. When you’re that tight financially, even small surprises can quickly become big problems.”
