Federal regulators making low-down payment mortgages more accessible
Agencies are lowering or eliminating required down-payment amounts.
Oct. 28, 2014
Recent steps by federal regulators are making low down-payment loans, a feature of the housing market’s boom, more accessible. The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would start backing loans with down payments as low as 3 percent. In addition, three federal agencies approved a loosened set of mortgage-lending rules, removing a requirement for a 20-percent down payment for a class of high-quality loan known as a “qualified residential mortgage.”
