What does the average down payment on a house look like in New Jersey? For those who live in the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro area, the median investment was $50,000 in early 2018.

A report published earlier this year by ATTOM Data Solutions revealed the average down payment on a house in the New York-Newark-Jersey City metropolitan area. Technically it showed the median, which is the midpoint for down payments made by all home buyers included in the study. But that’s the closest we can come to determine the average down payment size.

According to that report, home buyers in the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro area made a median down payment of $50,000 during the first quarter of 2018.

Median Down Payment Among New Jersey Home Buyers

In June 2018, the property data company ATTOM Data Solutions published its “U.S. Residential Property Loan Origination Report” that covered the first quarter of 2018. This report offers insight into a variety of housing trends of interest to home buyers in New Jersey. Among other things, it included down payment data for major cities and metro areas across the country.

According to the Q1 2018 report:

“Other metro areas with median down payments of $50,000 or higher in the first quarter were Naples, Florida ($64,750); Seattle, Washington ($59,800); Boston, Massachusetts ($55,000); and New York-Newark-Jersey City ($50,000).”

Terminology note: These were the median figures for this reporting period. That means half of all home buyers who used mortgage financing made down payments larger than $50,000, while the other half put down less than that amount.

The metro areas listed above certainly didn’t have the largest down payments among home buyers in the U.S. That “honor” went to San Jose, California, where the median down payment during the first quarter was a staggering $298,250.

How to Make a Smaller Upfront Investment

Home buyers in New Jersey shouldn’t be discouraged by the $50,000 down payment figure mentioned above. That was just the median-sized investment during the first quarter of 2018. It’s possible to purchase a home in the state with a smaller down payment, especially when you get away from the pricier NYC metro area.

Median and average down payments can be useful when comparing trends from one real estate market to the next. But those figures do not represent the minimum investment that is required for different types of mortgage loans, which can be significantly less than the median.

For example:

• Some of the conventional mortgage loan programs available today offer financing up to 97%, for a down payment as low as 3%.
• The FHA loan program (a favorite among first-time buyers in New Jersey) allows borrowers with credit scores of at least 580 to put down as little as 3.5% of the purchase price.
• Most veterans and military members are eligible for VA loans, which eliminates the need for a down payment altogether.

Additionally, a lot of the mortgage programs available today allow borrowers to use gift money provided by a third party. This is yet another way to reduce your upfront, out-of-pocket expense when buying a home in New Jersey.

Disclaimer: This article uses down payment data provided by third-party sources not associated with our company. We have presented it here as an educational service to our blog readers.