First-time homebuyers in California’s Bay Area struggling to save for a down payment can now apply to receive a loan of up to $200,000 through a new program that seeks to help low-income earners get on the property ladder.
Newsweek contacted Housing Trust Silicon Valley for comment by email on Tuesday.
Why It Matters
The Golden State is one of the most expensive housing markets in the country, with the greater Bay Area reporting particularly high prices. In February, the latest data available on Redfin’s website, the median sale price of a home in California was $832,500, up 6 percent from a year earlier and almost 70 percent higher than in February 2020, when it was $565,400. In both San Francisco and San Jose, the median sale price of a home in February was about $1.4 million.
With home prices still rising and mortgage rates still hovering between 6 and 7 percent, many aspiring homebuyers in California—especially those on lower income levels—have been pushed to the sidelines of the market and have had to put aside their dream of homeownership.
What To Know
The Home Access Program—created by Housing Trust Silicon Valley, a nonprofit in San Jose—offers those trying to buy a home in the greater Bay Area down payment assistance of up to 40 percent of the home’s purchasing price, up to $200,000…