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You may have heard that you need a 20% down payment to buy a home, but that isn't the case. In reality, many types of mortgage loans allow for a lot less. One of the most common low-down-payment options is the 3%-down conventional loan, which allows you to put down just 3% of the purchase price when taking out a mortgage.
MORE: See our top picks for mortgage lenders accepting low or no down payments.
The 3%-down mortgage is a type of conventional loan called a conforming loan. These are offered by private mortgage lenders, but their rules are set by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) that keep money flowing into the mortgage market by purchasing loans and selling them later on to investors.
Conventional loans are offered by most mortgage lenders and are the most common type of mortgage in the U.S. According to Home Mortgage Disclosure Data, they accounted for roughly 9.2 million of the 12.2 million mortgage loans issued in 2024.