Ruh-Roh: More Homeowners Cashing in on Their New Housing Wealth; Slashing Down Payments

... HELOC volume is now up 21 percent in the past two years, to the highest level since 2008, according to Fitch Ratings. It is still nowhere near its housing boom level, when many people treated their homes like ATMs, but the trajectory is definitely pointing higher.

... Borrowers are also putting smaller down payments on home loans now, starting with less home equity either to save cash or because they can't afford anything more. To put it in perspective, before the last housing boom, the median down payment was just over 7 percent. It then dropped to 3 percent during the height of the boom, as lenders offered all kinds of "creative" loan products that required little to no down payment... down payments rose back above 7 percent again during the recovery. At the end of 2016, the median down payment had fallen to 6 percent, according to ATTOM Data Solutions, and it appears to be headed lower, as lenders offer more low down-payment products...