Down Payment for Investment Property: What 326,533 Loans Show
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Quick Answer
As of October 12, 2026, the newest federal loan-level record (Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data for 2025) shows that investors buying a one-to-four-unit rental put down 25% at the median: across 326,533 first-lien purchase loans on investment properties ($110.2 billion), the median combined loan-to-value ratio (CLTV) was 75%. The rule books allow less. Fannie Mae's Eligibility Matrix (August 5, 2026) and Freddie Mac's published limits both cap a one-unit investment purchase at 85%, which is 15% down, and a two-to-four-unit purchase at 75%. Few borrowers use that room: of the loans with a CLTV, 67.8% were at 75% or below, 26.0% above 75% up to 80%, 3.6% above 80% up to 85%, and 2.6% above 85%. The 90th percentile was exactly 80%, so nine in ten investors put at least 20% down. Less down cost more and failed more often: on conventional loans underwritten on personal income, the median note rate was 6.99% at 70-75% CLTV and 7.625% at 80-85%, and 8.8% against 26.7% of decided applications were denied. The implied equity at purchase was about $92,500 at the median, on a median property value of $345,000 (approximate, because HMDA rounds values). This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal, tax or lending advice.
Key Takeaways
- 326,533 first-lien purchase loans on one-to-four-unit investment properties in 2025: median CLTV 75%, middle half 68.83% to 80%, 10th percentile 54.887%, 90th percentile 80%. The typical investor put 25% down; nine in ten put 20% or more.
- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac allow 85% on one unit (15% down) and 75% on two to four. Only 3.6% of loans landed above 80% up to 85%, and 2.5% exactly at 85%; 25.3% sat exactly at 75% and 22.2% exactly at 80%.
- Fannie Mae's price adjustment for an investment property is 2.125% of the loan at 70.01-75% LTV, 3.375% at 75.01-80% and 4.125% at 80.01-85% (LLPA Matrix, September 30, 2026), and mortgage insurance is required above 80%. Those steps sit where the loans pile up.
- Less down, worse terms: on conventional personal-purpose loans the median rate went from 6.99% (70-75% CLTV) to 7.25% (75-80%) and 7.625% (80-85%), and the denied share of decided applications from 8.8% to 12.4% and 26.7%.
- By loan route: conventional personal purpose 65,762 loans (5.1% above 80% CLTV), DSCR-type 64,686 (1.6% above 80%), business purpose with an income ratio 77,687 (4.8%), short-term flip and bridge 51,669 (median 70.39%), FHA 1,658 (median 97.5%).
- Two to four units: 59.1% of conventional personal-purpose loans were exactly at 75%, the agency cap. Of the 12 largest states, California had the lowest median CLTV (72.55%) and Missouri the highest share above 80% (8.4%).
CSV · 441 rows
Down payments on investment property purchases in federal HMDA data, 2025, with the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac limits
HMDA 2025 first-lien investment-property purchases: CLTV percentiles and bands, bunching at 75%, 80% and 85%, rate and denial share by CLTV band, by loan route, units, the 15 largest lenders and 12 largest states; plus Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac maximum LTV, Fannie Mae price adjustments and two lenders' published maximums. One source per row.
How much investors put down in 2025: the full distribution
Most pages on this question repeat the rule (15%, 20% or 25%) and stop. The federal loan-level record shows what borrowers actually did. Every lender above the HMDA reporting threshold files each decided application with the occupancy (“Investment property” is code 3), the loan purpose, the lien, the loan type and the combined loan-to-value ratio, defined in the FFIEC data fields as “The ratio of the total amount of debt secured by the property to the value of the property relied on in making the credit decision”. We used the nationwide 2025 file of originated and denied applications (8,942,981 rows) that we streamed from the FFIEC Data Browser for our investment property loans study, kept the first-lien, closed-end home purchase loans on one-to-four-unit investment properties and measured the CLTV with a saved script. One hundred minus the CLTV is the share of the value the borrower did not borrow: the down payment, as a percentage, unless a second lien or seller note filled part of it.
Combined loan-to-value on investment property purchases, 2025 (share of loans with a CLTV)
| CLTV band (down payment) | All routes | Conventional, personal purpose | DSCR-type | Short-term flip and bridge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60% or less (40% or more down) | 15.4% | 15.1% | 14.4% | 16.6% |
| Above 60% to 70% (30% to 40% down) | 18.8% | 14.3% | 20.0% | 32.0% |
| Above 70% to 75% (25% to 30% down) | 33.5% | 39.0% | 30.3% | 32.5% |
| Above 75% to 80% (20% to 25% down) | 26.0% | 26.5% | 33.8% | 10.7% |
| Above 80% to 85% (15% to 20% down) | 3.6% | 3.8% | 1.4% | 3.2% |
| Above 85% to 90% (10% to 15% down) | 0.8% | 0.5% | 0.2% | 1.8% |
| Above 90% to 95% (5% to 10% down) | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.0% | 0.4% |
| Above 95% (under 5% down) | 1.5% | 0.5% | 0.0% | 2.8% |
| CLTV 10th / 25th / median / 75th / 90th percentile | 54.887 / 68.83 / 75 / 80 / 80 | 55 / 70 / 75 / 80 / 80 | 57.235 / 70 / 75 / 80 / 80 | 53.77 / 64.51 / 70.39 / 75 / 80 |
| Originated purchase loans | 326,533 | 65,762 | 64,686 | 51,669 |
The shape is the finding. Two-thirds of investor purchases (67.8%) were at 75% CLTV or below, a quarter (26.0%) above 75% up to 80%, and the tail beyond 80% was thin: 6.2% in all. The loans pile up on round numbers: 25.3% of loans with a CLTV were exactly at 75% and 22.2% exactly at 80%, against 2.5% exactly at 85%. Among conventional personal-purpose loans the 75% spike was larger (34.9%); among DSCR-type loans the 80% spike was (30.0%), which fits DSCR lenders' published 80% ceilings quoted below.
The routes are our definitions built from HMDA fields, the same ones used on our investment property loans page: “conventional, personal purpose” is a conventional first lien not made primarily for a business purpose; “DSCR-type” is a conventional business-purpose loan of 30 years or more with no debt-to-income ratio reported; “short-term” is a business-purpose loan of 36 months or less. HMDA has no field named DSCR or non-QM.
In dollars, the implied equity at purchase (the property value times one minus the CLTV) had a median of about $92,500, a 25th percentile of about $53,750 and a 75th of about $166,250, on a median property value of $345,000 and a median loan of $235,000 (our arithmetic from rounded public values; closing costs and reserves are on top).
The rule allows 15% down; 3.6% of investors used it
The agencies set the floor for any loan they buy. Fannie Mae's Eligibility Matrix, dated August 5, 2026 and incorporated into its Selling Guide, lists for an investment property purchase “1 Unit FRM/ARM: 85%” and “2-4 Units FRM/ARM: 75%”, as the maximum “LTV, CLTV, HCLTV”. Freddie Mac's published table of maximum ratios for purchase and no cash-out refinance mortgages gives the same numbers: “1-Unit Investment Property | 85%” and “2- to 4-Unit Investment Property | 75%”. Our conventional loan for investment property page covers the rest of those rules (reserves, the 10-property cap, rental income).
Three details in Fannie Mae's guide move the real number. The value is not always the price: for a purchase the LTV is the loan divided by the property value, and “The property value is the lower of the sales price or the current appraised value” (Selling Guide B2-1.2-01). The ratio rounds up: the result “must be truncated (shortened) to two decimal places, then rounded up to the nearest whole percent”, so, by the guide's own example, 80.001% is delivered as 80%, while 80.01% would become 81% (our reading). And above 80% the loan needs mortgage insurance: the lender “must obtain a primary mortgage insurance policy for a conventional first mortgage loan that has an LTV ratio greater than 80%” unless it uses another charter-compliant credit enhancement (B7-1-01).
Then there is price. Fannie Mae's Loan-Level Price Adjustment Matrix (dated September 30, 2026) charges an investment property a fee that steps up with the LTV, on top of the credit-score adjustments:
Fannie Mae investment-property price adjustment by LTV, against where 2025 investor purchases landed
| LTV range | Fannie Mae investment property LLPA (% of loan) | Share of 2025 investor purchases in the CLTV band |
|---|---|---|
| 30.01% to 60% | 1.125% | 15.4% (60% or less) |
| 60.01% to 70% | 1.625% | 18.8% |
| 70.01% to 75% | 2.125% | 33.5% |
| 75.01% to 80% | 3.375% | 26.0% |
| 80.01% to 85% | 4.125%, plus mortgage insurance | 3.6% |
On a $400,000 one-unit rental, a $300,000 loan at 75% carries a 2.125% adjustment, $6,375, and a $340,000 loan at 85% carries 4.125%, $14,025, before the score adjustment and the mortgage insurance premium (our arithmetic). Lenders usually pass these adjustments on in the rate or in points (our reading). The extra $40,000 of loan therefore costs $7,650 in adjustments alone at origination, which is why the distribution stops at the 75% and 80% walls (our arithmetic and our reading; HMDA does not record why a borrower chose a ratio).
What a smaller down payment cost in 2025: rate and denials by CLTV band
The public file has no credit scores, so it cannot price a loan for you. It does show what borrowers at each level of leverage paid and how often applicants at that level were turned down.
Median note rate and denied share of decided applications, by CLTV band, 2025 investor purchases
| CLTV band | Conventional personal purpose: median rate | Conventional personal purpose: denied | DSCR-type: median rate | DSCR-type: denied |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60% or less | 6.625% | 10.7% | 6.875% | 10.3% |
| Above 60% to 70% | 6.875% | 10.2% | 7.125% | 13.6% |
| Above 70% to 75% | 6.99% | 8.8% | 7.375% | 15.3% |
| Above 75% to 80% | 7.25% | 12.4% | 7.49% | 17.5% |
| Above 80% to 85% | 7.625% | 26.7% | 7.75% | 41.0% |
| Above 85% to 90% | 8.84% | 54.3% | 9.615% | 56.8% |
On conventional loans the step from 25% down to 15-20% down added 0.635 percentage points to the median rate (6.99% to 7.625%) and tripled the denied share (8.8% to 26.7%, our arithmetic). On DSCR-type loans the denied share went from 17.5% at 75-80% to 41.0% at 80-85%. Across all routes, the median rate was 6.875% at 60% CLTV or less and 7.5% at 80-85%, and the denied share 9.8% at 70-75% against 20.2% at 80-85%.
Read this as a description, not a quote. Borrowers who put more down also tend to have more savings and better credit, which HMDA does not show, and the denied share counts only originated and denied applications (withdrawn and incomplete files are not in our extract). The CLTV of a denied application is the one the applicant asked for.
By loan type: who puts the least down
Investment property purchase loans by route, 2025
| Route (our HMDA definition) | Loans | Median CLTV | Middle half | At or below 75% | Above 80% | Median rate | Median implied equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business purpose, 30 years or more, income ratio reported | 77,687 | 75% | 70% to 80% | 67.5% | 4.8% | 7.0% | $96,250 |
| Conventional, personal purpose | 65,762 | 75% | 70% to 80% | 68.4% | 5.1% | 6.99% | $91,250 |
| DSCR-type (business purpose, no income ratio, 30 years or more) | 64,686 | 75% | 70% to 80% | 64.6% | 1.6% | 7.25% | $89,250 |
| Short-term flip and bridge (36 months or less) | 51,669 | 70.39% | 64.51% to 75% | 81.2% | 8.1% | 9.99% | $112,217 |
| Business purpose, other terms | 30,616 | 75% | 64.5% to 80% | 55.7% | 12.3% | 7.0% | $67,000 |
| Small banks and credit unions (partial exemption) | 33,896 | not reported | not reported | not reported | not reported | not reported | not reported |
| FHA reported as investment property | 1,658 | 97.5% | 97.5% to 97.5% | 1.0% | 98.9% | 7.75% | $8,625 |
| VA reported as investment property | 557 | 90.43% | 80.025% to 96.886% | 17.8% | 74.9% | 2.75% | $37,351 |
The conventional and DSCR-type routes look alike at the median, 75%, and differ in the tail: 5.1% of conventional personal-purpose loans went above 80% CLTV against 1.6% of DSCR-type loans. A DSCR loan is the route for a borrower whose income does not pass a debt-to-income test, not a route to a smaller down payment. Kiavi's site, read October 10, 2026, lists for its rental loans “Leverage: Up to 80% loan-to-value (LTV)*” and Lima One says it “offers up to 80% LTV on purchase and rate-term refinance, and up to 75% on cash-out” (both are the lenders' claims). Our DSCR loan versus conventional mortgage comparison works through that choice.
Short-term loans show the lowest median CLTV (70.39%) and the largest median implied equity ($112,217), but the ratio there is against the value the lender relied on; fix-and-flip lenders size loans on purchase plus rehab cost and on after-repair value, which HMDA does not report. The 33,896 small-bank and credit-union loans have no CLTV because those lenders may leave the field blank under the partial exemption in Regulation C.
FHA and VA are built for owner-occupants (our investment property loans page quotes the HUD and VA rules), so their rows are small. The 1,658 FHA loans reported as investment property were bunched at 97.5% CLTV: the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles were all 97.5%. Our FHA loan for investment property page explains the HUD exceptions. The 557 VA loans report a median note rate of 2.75%, far below 2025 market rates, which suggests unusual cases (our reading); we do not treat them as a route open to an investor. The practical low-down-payment route for a rental is living in one unit of a two-to-four-unit building, covered on our investment property loans page.
One unit or two to four: the 75% wall
Investment property purchases by number of units, 2025
| Route and units | Loans | Median CLTV | At or below 75% | Above 80% | Exactly 75% | Exactly 80% | Median rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conventional personal purpose, 1 unit | 58,850 | 75% | 66.1% | 5.6% | 32.1% | 25.8% | 6.99% |
| Conventional personal purpose, 2-4 units | 6,912 | 75% | 87.7% | 1.5% | 59.1% | 9.4% | 7.125% |
| DSCR-type, 1 unit | 52,099 | 75% | 66.6% | 1.5% | 25.0% | 28.3% | 7.25% |
| DSCR-type, 2-4 units | 12,587 | 75% | 56.6% | 1.7% | 29.9% | 37.3% | 7.375% |
| All routes, 1 unit | 275,664 | 75% | 66.8% | 6.6% | 23.4% | 22.8% | 7.25% |
| All routes, 2-4 units | 50,869 | 75% | 73.6% | 3.8% | 36.3% | 18.6% | 7.25% |
On a duplex, triplex or fourplex the agency cap is 75%, and the conventional loans show it: 59.1% sat exactly at 75% and 87.7% at or below it. The other 12.3% (our arithmetic) were above the agency maximum, so they were not loans Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac could buy at that ratio (our reading). DSCR-type loans on two to four units went further more often, with 37.3% exactly at 80%: for a small multifamily rental, a DSCR lender is the common way to put 20% rather than 25% down, at a higher median rate (7.375% against 7.125%).
The 15 largest lenders to investor buyers
The 15 largest lenders made 28.8% of the 2025 investor purchase loans; 3,914 lenders made at least one.
Largest lenders by investment property purchase loans, 2025 (names as filed with the FFIEC)
| Lender | Loans | Largest route at the lender | Median CLTV | Above 80% | Median rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kiavi Funding, Inc. | 18,839 | Short-term (96.6%) | 71.97% | 0.0% | 10.45% |
| United Wholesale Mortgage | 16,329 | Business purpose with income ratio (47.8%) | 75% | 3.0% | 7.375% |
| CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC | 7,324 | Business purpose with income ratio (60.5%) | 75% | 3.0% | 7.24% |
| The Loan Store, Inc | 6,560 | Conventional personal purpose (77.4%) | 75% | 2.7% | 6.875% |
| Rocket Mortgage | 6,384 | Conventional personal purpose (99.4%) | 75% | 2.9% | 6.99% |
| Lennar Mortgage, LLC | 6,127 | Conventional personal purpose (97.9%) | 75% | 2.2% | 5.625% |
| Loan Funder LLC | 5,357 | Short-term (84.5%) | 66.77% | 0.0% | 10.5% |
| PennyMac Loan Services LLC | 3,947 | Business purpose with income ratio (95.2%) | 75% | 2.6% | 6.875% |
| RF Renovo Management Company, LLC | 3,518 | Short-term (94.2%) | 68.13% | 0.0% | 9.75% |
| Guaranteed Rate, Inc. | 3,483 | Business purpose with income ratio (69.0%) | 75% | 1.7% | 7.0% |
| A&D Mortgage LLC | 3,425 | DSCR-type (95.6%) | 70% | 0.1% | 6.99% |
| DHI Mortgage Company, Ltd. | 3,420 | Business purpose with income ratio (92.4%) | 75% | 1.6% | 5.75% |
| CV3 Financial Services, LLC | 3,336 | DSCR-type (72.2%) | 75% | 0.2% | 7.99% |
| AmWest Funding Corp | 3,014 | DSCR-type (82.2%) | 70% | 0.0% | 6.875% |
| Champions Funding, LLC | 3,014 | DSCR-type (93.6%) | not reported (3,012 loans without a CLTV) | not reported | 7.624% |
No large lender let more than 3.0% of its investor purchase loans go above 80% CLTV. The large retail and wholesale mortgage companies cluster at a 75% median; the DSCR specialists (A&D Mortgage, AmWest Funding) at 70%; the short-term lenders below 72%. Two lenders stand out on price: Lennar Mortgage (5.625%) and DHI Mortgage (5.75%) had median rates more than a point below most of the list. HMDA does not say why; a rate buydown paid by the seller is one possible reason (our reading).
By state: the twelve largest markets
Investment property purchase loans in the 12 states with the most loans, 2025
| State | Loans | Median CLTV | Above 80% | Median rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | 31,355 | 75% | 4.6% | 7.25% |
| Texas | 30,345 | 75% | 7.1% | 7.125% |
| California | 27,642 | 72.55% | 5.4% | 7.25% |
| North Carolina | 13,788 | 75% | 6.6% | 7.0% |
| Pennsylvania | 13,310 | 75% | 4.0% | 7.375% |
| New York | 13,143 | 75% | 3.9% | 7.25% |
| Ohio | 12,808 | 75% | 4.8% | 7.5% |
| Georgia | 12,074 | 75% | 7.3% | 7.25% |
| Illinois | 11,700 | 75% | 5.8% | 7.375% |
| New Jersey | 10,400 | 74.98% | 2.9% | 7.5% |
| Missouri | 9,375 | 75% | 8.4% | 7.375% |
| Tennessee | 9,000 | 75% | 8.0% | 7.25% |
The national answer holds state by state: a 75% median almost everywhere. California is the exception, with a 72.55% median, and New Jersey had the smallest share above 80% (2.9%). The highest shares of thin down payments were in Missouri (8.4%), Tennessee (8.0%), Georgia (7.3%) and Texas (7.1%). HMDA does not say why.
What HMDA can and cannot tell you about a down payment
- CLTV is not cash at closing. It counts all debt secured by the property, so a second mortgage or a seller-financed note lowers the cash the buyer brought. Closing costs and reserves are not in it at all.
- The value is the one the lender relied on. For a Fannie Mae purchase that is the lower of the price and the appraisal; other lenders may use the appraisal alone, and HMDA does not say which value was used, so the CLTV can differ from the cash share of the price (our reading).
- Some loans have no ratio. 40,421 of the 326,533 originated purchase loans had no usable CLTV, 33,871 of them from small banks and credit unions using the partial exemption. For 8,586 loans with a missing ratio we divided the loan amount by the property value, both rounded in the public file.
- No credit scores, no reserves, no points on business-purpose loans. The rate and denial differences above mix leverage with everything else that differs between borrowers.
- Coverage. HMDA covers lenders above the federal reporting thresholds; private hard money lenders below them are missing.
What a borrower can do with this
- Budget for 25% down plus costs, and treat 20% as the realistic minimum. 93.8% of 2025 investor purchases were at or below 80% CLTV (our arithmetic), and none of the 15 largest lenders or 12 largest states had more than 8.4% of its loans above 80%.
- If you want 15% down on a one-unit rental, the conventional agency loan is the route, with mortgage insurance and the 4.125% price adjustment. Ask the lender to quote 75%, 80% and 85% side by side; on our $400,000 example the adjustments alone differ by $7,650 between 75% and 85%.
- On two to four units, plan on 25% conventionally. A DSCR lender may go to 80%, at a higher rate; the 2025 median was 7.375% against 7.125%.
- Move the ratio off the wall. A loan at 80.01% is priced and insured as above 80%; a slightly larger down payment that brings the ratio to 80% or 75% can change the price tier (Selling Guide rounding rule above).
- If 20% is out of reach, look at occupancy, not leverage. Living in one unit of a two-to-four-unit building opens FHA, VA and owner-occupied conventional loans; see our investment property loans guide. For the income test and the DSCR alternative, see DSCR loan versus conventional mortgage and the lender-by-lender DSCR loan requirements.
Kiavi and Lima One publish 80% maximums on rental purchases, so they fit a down payment of 20% or more, not 15%. Kiavi's site says it lends on “Non-owner-occupied properties only”, so it is not a route for buying a building you will live in.
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FAQ
Loan-level data: FFIEC/CFPB HMDA Data Browser, nationwide 2025 file of originated and denied applications (actions 1 and 3; 8,942,981 rows), streamed on October 10, 2026 with our script stream_extract.py, which kept investment-property and two-to-four-unit rows (906,337), and analyzed on October 12, 2026 with down_payment_hmda.py (first-lien, closed-end home purchase loans on one-to-four-unit investment properties); both scripts, the extract log and the full output are in sources/. Field definitions from the FFIEC public LAR data fields; lender names from the FFIEC 2025 filer list. Rules from the Fannie Mae Eligibility Matrix (August 5, 2026), Selling Guide B2-1.2-01 and B7-1-01 and Loan-Level Price Adjustment Matrix (September 30, 2026), and Freddie Mac's published maximum LTV/TLTV/HTLTV requirements, all read October 12, 2026; lender maximums from Kiavi's and Lima One's websites, read October 10, 2026, as those lenders' claims. All percentiles, shares, medians and dollar figures from HMDA are our arithmetic. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal, tax or lending advice.
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