Average Duration Americans Dedicated to Accumulating a Home Down Payment in 2025 Unveiled

Main Insights

• On average, Americans now spend seven years saving for a typical down payment on a home—a shorter period than the recent peak, but still longer than before the pandemic.

• As home prices climb, down payments have increased, and slower savings growth is making it even harder for buyers to reach their goals.

• In expensive cities like San Francisco, saving for a down payment can take decades, while in more affordable areas, it may only require a few years.

For many in the U.S., accumulating enough money for a home down payment is a lengthy process. However, recent buyers are managing to reach this milestone more quickly than in the past few years.

According to Realtor.com, by 2025, the typical American needed seven years to save for a median down payment, a significant improvement from 12 years in 2022. Despite this progress, it still takes nearly twice as long as it did before the pandemic, when soaring home prices made ownership less attainable for many.

Economic Impact of Longer Saving Periods

When saving for a down payment takes longer, potential buyers often delay purchasing a home, which can leave them exposed to increasing rents. This also limits access to home equity, a key source of long-term wealth for many Americans. On a larger scale, postponed homeownership can reduce demand for housing, slow construction and mortgage activity, and dampen consumer spending related to moving and home upgrades.

“While conditions have improved since 2022, the current timeline shows that saving for a home still takes much longer than it did before the pandemic, particularly in high-cost regions,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com.

Declining Savings Among Americans

Realtor.com’s report highlights two main reasons why down payments are harder to accumulate: rising home prices are pushing required down payments higher, and a lower savings rate is making it more difficult for buyers to set aside enough money.

“Typical down payments have increased as home prices and competition have intensified, while inflation and higher living costs have reduced the rate at which people can save,” Hale explained.

Since the pandemic, home prices have soared. Data from the S&P Case-Shiller index shows a 55% increase in home values between September 2019 and September 2025. Over the same period, the average down payment has more than doubled, jumping from $13,900 to $30,400.

Meanwhile, the U.S. personal savings rate dropped to 5.1% of income in 2025, compared to about 6.5% before the pandemic.

Down Payments Represent a Larger Share of Home Prices

Although experts often recommend putting down 20% of a home’s price, most buyers fall short of this target. In the third quarter of 2025, the average down payment was 14.4% of the purchase price.

Despite the surge in home values, the proportion of the purchase price that buyers put down has remained steady at around 14% since 2022. This is largely because only wealthier buyers can afford today’s higher prices.

“In recent years, elevated down payments reflect the fact that worsening affordability has limited the pool of buyers to those with stronger finances, who tend to put more money down,” noted Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com.

The Role of Location

Down payment amounts vary widely by region. More affordable markets typically see lower average down payments. In military communities, down payments are often smaller since VA loans frequently do not require them.

The contrast between markets is striking. In San Francisco, a household earning the median income would need over 36 years to save for the city’s median down payment of $245,466. In comparison, median-income households in San Antonio, Texas, or Virginia Beach, Virginia—both with large military populations—would need only one or two years, respectively, to save for a local down payment.