The Average Down Payment for a House in Ohio is Lower Than Most of America

Many people know the barrier to entry to buy a house is sky high, but not many people know exactly what they need to save up to in order to crack that barrier. Just as real estate prices vary from region to region, state to state and city to city, so too does the down payment to buy those homes.

Naturally, there is a lot of assistance prospective buyers can get to help with buying a home and the down payment is no different. In Ohio, prospective buyers can apply for 'Your Choice! Down Payment Assistance through the Ohio Housing Finance Agency. The assistance allows homebuyers to choose either 2.5% or 5% of the home's purchase price and apply assistance toward the down payment. After seven years, the assistance is forgiven.

The qualifications for OHFA assistance vary by county, but most are available to buyers who are on the lower end of reasonability to enter the housing market.

Taking advantage of such assistance could really stretch the cash for Ohio homebuyers because down payments in the state are less than half the national average, a daunting $31.5k. With an average down payment costing $15,044, Ohio's down payments on a house are the seventh lowest in the nation according to a study from Voronoi, a Visual Capitalist website.

Despite low down payments, the real estate market in Ohio is bearish because there aren't many houses for sale in the Buckeye State, according to Houzeo. However, experts predict the market to shift dramatically in 2024 as buyers take advantage of inflation and interest rate stabilization and relatively low home prices (the average home price in Ohio is $215,300 compared to the national average of $417,700). Surely, having low down payments will only help those predictions come to fruition.

To see how Ohio's down payments compare to the rest of the country, see Veronoi's full study here.