Put 20% down if you can. On a $500K home, the difference between 5% and 20% down is $800/month — or $67,200 over 7 years. That's real money.
Put 3-5% down if you can't. Getting into a home sooner and building equity beats waiting. But factor PMI into your budget — it's $316/month on top of your payment until you hit 20% equity.
10% down is often the sweet spot. PMI is lower, down payment is manageable, and you're not starting with underwater equity risk.
Down payment is arithmetic; approval is a lender decision. The Denial Map shows what the record supports.
The Denial Map → 📊 Full Calculator 🔔 Set AlertNot financial advice. PMI estimates at 0.8% annually. Rates at 6.7%. Down payment options vary by loan type and lender.
🔍 Also explore: All FRC Research Tools · Evidence Navigator · FHA State Map · Lender Stress Index
Numbers like these tell you what you can afford. They cannot tell you whether a lender will say yes — and that varies more than almost anyone realises. In the complete 2025 federal record, approval rates across the 100 largest FHA lenders ran from 98.2% down to 21.3%. Same program, same year.
And it is not simply who applies where: holding state, loan amount, income, debt-to-income and loan-to-value constant, applicant mix explains only a 2.7× range in expected outcomes.
CFPB HMDA 2025, computed by FinanceRateCalc · rates reflect applicant mix as well as lender practice · historical observation, not a prediction · free, CC BY 4.0.