Lenders Loosening Up on Mortgage Down-Payments

Mortgage lenders and insurers, buoyed by improvement in the housing market, are relaxing their down-payment requirements. As they take more and more markets off the restricted list, the percentage of a property's value insurers will cover is rising from 90% to 95% in many places. Wells Fargo, which has been requiring down payments of more than 20%, is lowering the bar for the first time since 2007. Even in some of the most troubled markets, an executive says, "we are starting to see moderation." (More mortgage stories.)