For Immediate Release

August 12, 2025

Contact: Douglas Robinson

[email protected] or [email protected]

NeighborWorks America Lays out Strategy to Assist the Nearly One Third of Aspiring Homeowners Amid Growing Affordability Concerns 

Washington, D.C. – NeighborWorks® America is calling attention to three consumer programs designed to help put the millions of people who believe owning a home in today’s market is unattainable on a clearer path to affordable homeownership. The programs highlighted come as a recent survey from NeighborWorks America found that 31% of adults overall and 38% of Gen Z who want to buy a home consider the goal unattainable. 

“Homeownership may not be the best choice for everyone at every point in their life, but for so many people to believe that owning a part of the American Dream is unattainable is sobering,” said NeighborWorks America President & CEO Marietta Rodriguez. “These results should energize everyone across the homeownership sector to see where they can make changes to give millions of people more hope.”

With more than 46 years of leadership in affordable, stable homeownership, NeighborWorks knows that access to the right information and resources can be the difference between dreaming of a home and owning one. When people understand the steps and support available to them, homeownership becomes a real, achievable goal.

Access Down Payment Assistance 

Nearly 60% of people who want to buy a home over the next 12 months are first time homebuyers, according to the NeighborWorks survey, and 72% of them are actively saving for a down payment. But only 25% of people who want to buy a home are aware of and have researched down payment assistance programs. This contrasts with one in three (33%) NeighborWorks network homebuyers who received down payment assistance in FY24, translating to more than 6,700 families achieving the American dream of homeownership with the help of these programs and the NeighborWorks network.

The poll also showed that when consumers are saving for a down payment, they’re often misinformed about how much they need, with 39% of those thinking of buying a home believing they need a down payment equal to at least 15% of the purchase price, and more than one in four (27%) thinking they need at least 20% for the down payment. With the median priced home today at $427,000, too many potential buyers think they need to save at least $84,000.

“The reality is, many buyers qualify for mortgages with a down payment as small as 3%, and down payment assistance programs can be a bridge for people struggling to save,” said Rodriguez. “NeighborWorks organizations around the country have access to these programs and are eager to help consumers access these programs and secure affordable homeownership.”

Strengthen Credit

Many potential homebuyers are sitting on the sidelines because of credit issues. Credit challenges are a major barrier to homeownership, with 22% of consumers who are delaying or not considering a home purchase citing credit as a key obstacle. Helping consumers identify and work to improve credit issues is what NeighborWorks homeownership counselors do every day. Connecting with one of the hundreds of homebuyer education counselors in the NeighborWorks network is a good first step to improving credit and advancing firmly onto the path of affordable homeownership. 

Mortgage rates can vary as much as half a percent or more depending on the strength of a borrower’s credit. Mortgage rates are stubbornly close to 7%, and saving half of a percent on a $400,000 mortgage loan can mean a monthly payment nearly $140 less every month. 

“The best way to secure the lowest and most affordable mortgage rate possible is to build stronger credit,” said Rodriguez. 

Understand the process

Buying a home is complicated, from establishing a realistic budget, to choosing the right lender and mortgage product, to finding the right home.  Each of these items has additional subparts that can make the process daunting, and with big financial and personal implications: 50% of those currently looking for or interested in buying a home expect to live there for more than a decade. NeighborWorks homeownership advisors and counselors understand this and are there to help, and in 2024, more than 105,000 people received homebuyer counseling and education from NeighborWorks organizations. 

“A housing counselor or homeownership advisor from a NeighborWorks nonprofit has the experience of dealing with a range of clients and situations,” explained Rodriguez. “They offer guidance based on each client’s individual needs and goals. They don’t offer cookie-cutter solutions.”

Methodology: This poll was conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of NeighborWorks America between May 17-18, 2025 among a sample of 2,201 adults aged 18+ in the US. The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of adults based on age, gender, race, educational attainment, region, gender by age, and race by educational attainment. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

About NeighborWorks America 

For more than 45 years, Neighborhood Reinvestment Corp., a Congressionally chartered national nonprofit known as NeighborWorks America, has strived to make every community safer and more prosperous. Our network of excellence includes nearly 250 nonprofits in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and on Native lands. NeighborWorks offers grant funding, peer exchange, technical assistance, evaluation tools and access to best-in-class training as the nation's leading trainer of housing and community development professionals. NeighborWorks network organizations build homes and apartments, expanding the supply of affordable housing in every community; provide financial counseling and coaching that increases self-sufficiency; encourage resident leadership, and collaborate with local stakeholders in the areas of health, economic development, employment and education. In Fiscal Year 2024, for every dollar received from Congress, NeighborWorks network and NeighborWorks America attracted an additional $71 of investment from other sources.