Home prices have been rising, and so have down payments.

The median down payment among homebuyers in December was $63,188, according to a recent report by Redfin. That’s up 7.5%, or about $4,000, from a year prior.

“That is mostly reflecting the fact that home prices have increased,” said Chen Zhao, an economist at Redfin.

On top of high home prices, other issues homebuyers face include high inflation, volatile mortgage rates and limited savings balances.

The typical homebuyer down payment was equal to about 16.3% of the purchase price in December, when the median home-sale price was $428,000, per Redfin data. 

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While homebuyers are putting down more cash for their home purchases, down payments continue to be a major hurdle.

A new report by Bankrate found that 81% of would-be buyers say that down payment and closing costs are obstacles toward owning a home some day. For 52%, the hurdle is “very significant” while for 29% it’s “somewhat significant.”

The survey conducted by YouGov Plc polled 2,703 U.S. adults in mid January.

Recently, more people are using mortgage options sponsored by the government. About 15% of mortgaged home sales used an FHA loan in December, up from mid-2022’s decade-low of roughly 10%, Redfin found. The share of those who used a VA loan rose to 6.7%, from 6.2% a year earlier.

The increase could be a sign of buyers having an upper hand in the market, said Redfin’s Zhao. Typically, sellers prefer to avoid FHA loans because they can involve a longer processing time, she said. For this reason, buying with an FHA loan can be less advantageous in a highly competitive housing market.

While low-down payment mortgages can help someone achieve homeownership, there may be additional costs involved.

With less cash upfront, you will need to borrow more, making your monthly mortgage payment much higher, experts say. And you could also face higher mortgage rates.

“The best priced loans are going to do a larger down payment, so the less you put down, the higher the rate is, the greater the risk,” said Melissa Cohn, regional vice president at William Raveis Mortgage.

With a down payment of less than 20%, you may be subject to private mortgage insurance, or PMI, which is added to the monthly mortgage payment.  

Meanwhile, mortgage lenders tend to offer better loan terms to borrowers who put more cash up front, or make 20% down payments. Benefits can include lower interest rates, reduced fees and favorable repayment terms. While a 20% down payment can be daunting, it’s certainly not a requirement. You can buy a house with much less up front. Here’s what to know.

PMI can cost anywhere from 0.5% to 1.5% of the loan amount per year, depending on factors such as your credit score and your total down payment, according to The Mortgage Reports. For example, on a loan for $300,000, mortgage insurance premiums could cost from $1,500 to $4,500 a year, or $125 to $375 a month, the site found.

“You don’t get anything for free,” said Cohn. 

The time it takes to save can work in your favor. As you build your down payment savings, you can also work on paying down debt and improving your credit, so that you improve your chance of being approved for a mortgage at the best-available rate, Hamrick said.

While you’re building your down payment, look for other programs that can help you get there faster.

Aside from federally backed low-down-payment mortgage options, consider state or local assistance down payment assistance programs, which can offer aid to those who qualify, experts say. Such programs can offer grants and loans to help cover part or all of a homebuyer’s down payment and closing costs, per The Mortgage Reports.

“The good news is the federal government isn’t the only game in town,” Hamrick said. “It’s really about trying to be aware and take advantage of any potential applicable program.”

Browse online through the state agency and see if you meet the qualifications for any assistance programs or grants available in your state or area, Cohn said.

“For people who don’t have the luxury or haven’t been able to save enough, that’s a good option,” she said.

U.S. importers and their customers are about to experience the full force of President Donald Trump’s unprecedented use of emergency economic powers.

To that point, 25% tariffs on imports from America’s top two trading partners, Canada and Mexico, went into effect at midnight Tuesday, as did an additional 10% tariff on Chinese imports. Canadian energy will be tariffed at a lower rate of 10%, also as of midnight Tuesday.

It’s difficult to overstate how far-reaching the impact of these tariffs will be, or how quickly they will be felt.

U.S. trade with Mexico, Canada and China last year accounted for around 40% of America’s total commerce in goods around the world.

And unlike traditional trade policy, these tariffs are designed to deliver a financial sting right away, trade experts told CNBC.

“From a technical standpoint, the imposition of the tariffs is basically a light switch. They’re on or they’re off,” said Daniel Anthony, the president of Trade Partnership Worldwide, a policy research firm.

Literally overnight, the cost of importing, for example, $100,000 worth of limes from Mexico increased by $25,000 Tuesday. This is money that the importer will need to pay directly to U.S. Customs and Border Protection when the limes cross the border.

Target CEO Brian Cornell told investors Tuesday that shoppers could see produce prices rise within days, the result of tariffs on Mexican fruits and vegetables.

Even if a glitch prevented tariffs from being collected starting at exactly 12:01am Eastern Time Tuesday, they would still be tallied, and importers could expect to receive a tax bill retroactively, said Nicole Bivens Collinson, a Washington trade lobbyist and managing principal at Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg.

“It’s like when you get an Uber bill and you forgot to tip, and add it on later,” she said.

Along with the two new North American tariff rates, Trump also signed an order Monday doubling his earlier 10% tariff on imports from China, for a total 20% additional tariff rate on the nation.

Taken together, Canada, China and Mexico accounted for $2.2 trillion worth of U.S. overseas trade in 2024, according to federal census data. About $840 billion of that came from trade with Mexico, $762 billion from Canadian imports and exports and $582 billion from China.

So-called “de minimis” imports are international shipments valued at $800 or less. Historically, these low-value, person-to-person imports have been exempt from U.S. tariffs.

Several of the world’s biggest e-commerce companies take advantage of the de-minimis loophole by shipping their products directly to consumers from overseas.

Fast fashion sites, like Temu and Shein, ship goods directly from China to American consumers. They have helped fuel an explosion in U.S.-bound de-minimis shipments in recent years.

But collecting tariffs on de-minimis goods is harder than it looks.

“There’s a whole infrastructure system set up for normal shipments that come in to the country,” said Collinson, who previously served as a U.S. trade negotiator. But this system doesn’t exist for de-minimis imports, she added.

Last year alone, the U.S. accepted more than 1.3 billion overseas shipments that qualified for de-minimis tariff exemptions, according to federal data.

To process that many new shipments, the federal government will need to hire more customs agents, experts said.

Nonetheless, in early February Trump announced that the United States would begin collecting tariffs on low-value shipments from overseas.

Trump’s order gave the U.S. Postal Service mere days to implement a system to begin collecting tariffs on millions of small packages every day.

It also sowed chaos throughout the international postal system, culminating on Feb. 4 with an announcement that USPS had suspended all parcel delivery services from China and Hong Kong “until further notice.”

A day later, the postal service reversed course and resumed processing the de-minimis parcels. But it did not collect any tariffs on them.

Soon after, the Trump administration issued an amendment to the China order, formally delaying any effort to collect tariffs on de-minimis imports until “adequate systems are in place to fully and expediently process and collect tariff revenue” on them.

The U.S. Postal Service didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

A month later, the White House put similar de-minimis waivers in place Sunday for Canada and Mexico, ahead of imposing the new 25% tariffs.

It’s unclear when a de-minimis tariff collection system might be up and running.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman told CNBC, “The dynamic nature of our mission, along with evolving threats and challenges, requires CBP to remain flexible and adapt quickly while ensuring seamless operations and mission resilience.”

But Anthony noted that the delay for China was “open ended.”

“Part of the challenge is [federal] personnel and bandwidth,” he said. Customs and Border Protection may not have the staff or resources available to handle the new volume of shipments and packages, he said.

Officials must also determine how the levy will be assessed and paid, and how customs officials will process tens of millions of new data points furnished by shippers for each individual package, the experts said.

“Anyone can develop a good policy, but whether that policy can actually be effectuated is critical,” Collinson said.

Recent actions by the Department of Government Efficiency to access internal computer systems and databases at many federal government agencies, including the Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service, and Social Security Administration, have sparked debates about privacy and data security. 

“There’s always inherent risk in having sensitive information at a government agency because they’re ultimately responsible for protecting it and moderating who actually has access to it,” said Steve Grobman, chief technology officer at the cybersecurity firm McAfee.

DOGE is not a federal agency, and billionaire Elon Musk, whom President Donald Trump brought on board to implement the DOGE initiative, is not a federal official. Yet, since its establishment, DOGE has sought access to software and IT systems at federal government agencies to “maximize efficiency” and cut spending.

Critics say there has been a lack of transparency about exactly how personal or financial information is being used and whether it is being kept secure — although Musk has said DOGE’s actions are “maximally transparent.” Meanwhile, several lawsuits have been filed to block DOGE’s access to sensitive personal data.

Cybersecurity experts say that protecting your personal and financial information should be part of a strategy to take care of your overall financial well-being, regardless of the political climate.

“For people who are concerned about the security of their data collected and stored by the federal government, our advice is the same as any other time or circumstance,” James  L. Lee, president of the non-profit Identity Theft Resource Center, said in an emailed statement. 

“There are actions you can and should take to protect your personal information, no matter what organization is collecting and storing it — from the corner market to local doctors to government agencies at all levels. Personal information is always at risk of identity misuse,” Lee said.

Here are five actions cybersecurity experts recommend you take now:

Freezing your credit will block access to your credit report and prevent anyone from opening new accounts in your name. Then, if someone gets your Social Security number or other private information, they can’t take out a loan or open a credit card.

You must contact all of the three major credit reporting agencies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — to freeze access to your credit with each. The process only takes a few minutes, and it’s free. Just make sure to temporarily unfreeze your credit before you apply for a new credit card, loan, or mortgage.

Take the time to review your credit reports from each of the credit reporting agencies to make sure there are no errors or signs of identity theft. You can get a free copy of your credit report from each of the bureaus weekly by going to annualcreditreport.com.

You may not need to check your reports every week, but it’s important to review your credit history at least quarterly to ensure there are no issues.

If you don’t have one already, create a “My Social Security” account on the Social Security Administration’s website to check your earnings records, get estimates of your monthly retirement benefits and manage current benefits. Review your statement, download a copy and contact the Social Security Administration if there are any mistakes. Establish your account now to ensure no one else does so in your name. 

“Keeping a local backup of your Social Security statement, credit history [and] student loan payments is always a good idea, and doubly so as the future is unclear at so many of the administering agencies,” Emory Roane, associate director of policy at the non-profit Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, said in an emailed statement.

The IRS allows consumers to proactively request an identity protection PIN (IP PIN) — a unique six-digit number — to use when filing your tax return. The IP PIN verifies your identity when you file an electronic or paper return. It prevents someone else from using your Social Security number to file a fake return, possibly stealing your refund. 

McAfee’s Grobman recommends that consumers make sure that “sensitive data that they have control of goes to the minimal number of places possible.” 

“Setting up multi-factor authentication, the various secure ID and PIN capabilities that the IRS offers, is absolutely critical to helping ensure that only you or your designated tax preparer is accessing that sensitive information on government systems,” he said.

Create a “passkey” for any online account that offers one for enhanced security. A passkey is a string of encrypted data that you can access with a face scan, fingerprint, or PIN. Use multi-factor authentication — like a password plus a code — if you can’t add a passkey. Don’t reuse passwords.

Instead, Lee, of the Identity Theft Resource Center, recommends you “use a password manager to create and remember a different password for every account. Google and Apple offer free password manager apps, and password managers are included in Safari, Chrome, Edge and other major web browsers.”

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