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\n <\/div>\n \n Find a top real estate agent near you<\/h3>\n
We analyze over 27 million transactions and thousands of reviews to determine which agent is best for you based on your needs. It takes just two minutes to match you with the best real estate agents, who will contact you and guide you through the process.<\/p>\n \n
Who uses a mortgage?<\/h2>\n
Most homebuyers in the United States use a mortgage because few home purchasers have all the cash in hand they\u2019ll need for home purchasing. A home is the biggest purchase most Americans will make in their lifetime. <\/span>The <\/span>median sales price of a residential property was $405,300<\/span><\/a> in the fourth quarter of 2025, while the <\/span>median household income was $83,730<\/span><\/a>, and the median savings account in the United States had a balance of <\/span>$8,000<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n So it\u2019s not a surprise that <\/span>74% of recent buyers<\/span><\/a> and 91% of first-time buyers financed their home purchase with a mortgage, according to the National Association of Realtors\u2019 <\/span>2026 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends<\/span><\/a>. The average mortgage down payment last year was 23% of the purchase price, but for first-time homebuyers, the average is more like 10%<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What is a mortgage? It\u2019s a type of loan used to purchase a home, but it\u2019s different from other loan products. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":185,"featured_media":69403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192,629,632],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-for-buyers","category-home-financing","category-mortgage-loans"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n