Where Do People Get Money to Buy in California? Mom and Dad, Often.

Where do people get money to buy in California? Mom and dad, often.

I read this interesting article (with interactive map) on the KQED news website about the downpayments made for california purchases made with an FHA loan.  Granted, not all loans are FHA in California, especially in our local counties of Santa Clara and San Mateo. But for most of the rest of California, it is interesting to see that parents help with the downpayment of their kids' purchase.

The California Dream series is a statewide media collaboration of CALmatters, KPBS, KPCC, KQED and Capital Public Radio with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the James Irvine Foundation and the College Futures Foundation.

• KPCC crunched the numbers on more than 600,000 FHA loans, a type of government-backed mortgage that's common with first-time buyers.FHA borrowers can use money from relatives for their down payment. In recent years, that kind of family financial help has been on the rise in California.
• Back in 2011, about one in four FHA loans in California included down payment money from relatives. Today, it's one in three.
• Family down payment support is playing an even bigger role in many parts of California, outstripping the national rate of 26 percent. Last year, in dozens of California ZIP codes — covering parts of East San Jose, North Hollywood, South Central Los Angeles, Santa Ana and Alpine in eastern San Diego County — at least half of FHA borrowers were getting family members to help with the down payment.
• Parents are not just gifting down payments to their kids. They're also co-buying houses.A recent quarterly report
  
  from Irvine-based real estate data firm Attom Data Solutions found that 48 percent of houses purchased in San Jose had sales deeds that listed multiple non-married buyers (often an indication that parents are co-buying with their children). The same was true for 38 percent of homes purchased in San Francisco.

Thanks for reading,

Francis

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