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The nation’s biggest mortgage lender, United Wholesale Mortgage, is bringing back a program that lets homebuyers of modest means put down just 1 percent when taking out a conventional loan backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
UWM’s Conventional 1% Down mortgage is more generous than when it was offered last spring, with the lender covering up to $7,000 of the borrower’s down payment, up from $4,000 in May 2024.
Mat Ishbia
“This program is a win for borrowers and will get them into a home sooner with less money out of their pocket,” UWM CEO Mat Ishbia said in a statement. “This gives independent mortgage brokers a significant competitive advantage both with their clients and real estate agents this purchase season.”
Freddie Mac’s Home Possible and Fannie Mae’s Home Ready programs let qualifying borrowers put down as little as 3 percent. Some lenders, including UWM, Rocket Mortgage and Zillow, have provided grants to allow borrowers who are eligible for those programs to put down as little as 1 percent and qualify for a Home Possible or Home Ready loan.
To qualify, Fannie and Freddie generally require that borrowers can’t earn more than 80 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI) in their market.
Because UWM’s 2 percent contribution is capped at $7,000, homebuyers looking to close a sale on a house priced higher than $350,000 will have to contribute more than 1 percent.
For a home that sells for the national median price of $402,300, for example, 3 percent down would equal $12,069. UWM would provide $7,000 of that amount, and the buyer would need to cover the remaining $5,069.
For a home priced at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s 2025 conforming loan limit of $806,500, a homebuyer would need a down payment of $17,195 — about 2 percent of the sale price — with UWM covering the remaining $7,000.
Homebuyers in any state can find programs that provide down-payment assistance using services like Down Payment Resource, which makes information available about programs and eligibility requirements through sites such as Zillow and Redfin, as well as through integrations with multiple listing services (MLSs), lenders and agents.
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