WASHINGTON, Aug. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- New data shows that private mortgage insurance (MI) helped more than 800,000 low down payment borrowers qualify for home financing in 2024. Last year, homebuyers contended with constrained housing supply, high home prices, and elevated mortgage interest rates, but the report from U.S. Mortgage Insurers (USMI) highlights how hundreds of thousands of households across the country were able to become homeowners through low down payment mortgages backed by private MI. What's more, publicly reported data confirm that the cost of private MI, as measured by in-force premium yields, has declined 25% since 2017, in stark contrast to other costs of homeownership, reaffirming that the small, temporary cost of monthly private MI provides homebuyers, lenders, the GSEs, and taxpayers with outsized benefits.

"For nearly seven decades, private MI has provided a dual benefit to the housing market: it creates homeownership opportunities for qualified borrowers – particularly first-time homebuyers – who lack substantial down payments, while simultaneously serving as a robust safeguard against mortgage default, thereby reducing overall risk in both the housing and financial markets," said Seth Appleton, president of USMI.

National Trends

• Over 800,000 households in 2024 became homeowners using low down payment mortgages backed by private MI – an increase from 2023.
• 65% of purchasers with private MI in 2024 were first-time homebuyers. Nearly 35% had annual incomes below $75,000.
• $362,632 was the average loan amount for a home purchase backed by private MI in 2024.
• Saving for a 20% down payment could take the typical potential homebuyer 27 years — nearly three times longer than the time to save for a 5% down payment that's often used with private MI.
• As of the end of 2024, the industry insured nearly $1.6 trillion of mortgages, including $1.4 trillion of mortgages backed by the GSEs, protecting the housing finance system and taxpayers from credit risk.
• The private MI industry has covered nearly $60 billion in claims for losses since the 2008 financial crisis.

USMI is dedicated to a housing finance system backed by private capital that enables access to housing finance for borrowers while protecting taxpayers. Mortgage insurance offers an effective way to make mortgage credit available to more people. USMI is ready to help build the future of homeownership. Learn more at www.usmi.org.

Media Contact: Natalie Pavlatos
media@usmi.org

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SOURCE U.S. Mortgage Insurers