AD Mortgage Examines Homeownership Downpayment Timelines

(Thumbnail illustration: Goran Grudic via pexels)

The time it takes for typical household to save for a down payment varies widely across the U.S., AD Mortgage, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., found in a new report.

The firm examined 250 cities across the country. It analyzed city-level home values, household incomes and saving-rate assumptions to identify the markets where households face the longest timelines to accumulate a 15% down payment.

AD Mortgage selected the five biggest cities in each state to ensure consistent representation of major urban markets. It then studied the combined dataset to determine which cities require the greatest number of years to save for a down payment under current economic conditions.

“The objective is to give mortgage professionals, analysts, policymakers, and the public a clear, data-driven understanding of where homeownership is least attainable as of fall 2025,” the report said.

Saving timelines within the least accessible cities range from just under 29 years to more than 37 years, AD Mortgage reported. “These markets represent the most challenging environments for households attempting to reach the down-payment threshold based on current income and housing conditions. While each city’s dynamics differ, they share a common pattern of elevated home values relative to local earnings, which drives the prolonged time required to accumulate a 15% down payment under the national saving rate,” the report said.

The cities with the longest savings timelines included Los Angeles–where a median-income household with a 4.6% saving rate would need 37.1 years to accumulate a 15% down payment—and New York City, where the same family would need 32.4 years. Kailua, Hawaii, San Jose and Bellevue, Wash. round out the markets with the longest savings timelines.

Notably, two cities, Waipahu, Hawaii and Elizabeth, N.J., share the same estimated saving period of 28.1 years and therefore jointly occupy the tenth position in the ranking.