Report from Zillow shows sky-high down payments required for Seattle homebuyers

SEATTLE — For those looking to buy a home in the city of Seattle, you may be looking at having to put down a lofty down payment. That’s according to a new report from Zillow.

“Our research basically shows that really in order to qualify for a loan today you need to be able to put down more money, roughly 61 percent of the home value towards that down payment and that represents about $462,000 which most families just don’t have $462,000 laying around,” Orphe Divounguy, a senior economist at Zillow, said.

Divounguy explained that this is based on median household incomes and the median cost of a home in Seattle.

“By affordable we mean a monthly cost, a monthly housing cost that does not exceed 30 percent of your income,” he said. “Because house prices have risen so much the median home value in the Seattle metro is roughly $753,000.”

Divounguy said right now many people are turning to co-buying homes or relying on help from parents or other loved ones to afford homes.

“It used to be parents could help out and that’s more than you can expect parents to help out,” Chris Munford said.

Divounguy said there are programs available that can help buyers with payments from the federal, state, and city governments.

Some in the form of grants and others in the form of low-interest loans.

“It’s the government stepping in, it’s not money you necessarily have to pay back so that’s useful that’s helpful, it’s a way to bridge the gap in the short run to help people get on the homeownership ladder,” he said.

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