New data reveals a four-year head start for veteran homebuyers, but most still don’t know the zero-down benefit exists
Veterans using zero-down Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) loans can become homeowners roughly four years sooner than buyers saving for a 10% down payment on a conventional conforming loan, according to new research released ahead of Veterans Day.
A joint analysis by Realtor.com and Veterans United Home Loans, using Optimal Blue mortgage data covering October 2025 through September 2026, found only about three in 10 veterans know VA loans require no down payment.
What the VA loan data shows
Over the past 12 months, 75.7% of VA-financed purchases carried a 0% down payment, and 86.1% fell below 10%, compared with 41.1% of conforming loan sales.
Average VA down payments were 4.3%, versus 19.1% for conforming loans, a disparity examined in MPA’s recent coverage of the VA education gap facing veteran borrowers.
On the September 2026 median home of $419,250, a zero-down VA borrower avoids $41,925 at closing compared with a 10% down conforming-loan buyer, and also benefits from lower rates.
VA loans averaged 5.81% on a 30-year fixed from October 2025 through September 2026, against 6.22% for conforming loans, widening to 6.36% versus 6.91% in September 2026.
A VA borrower with 10% down on the same purchase carries an estimated monthly payment of $2,387. That's $261 less than a conforming-loan buyer at the same level, or more than $3,100 in annual savings.
At 0% down, the payment rises to approximately $2,668, just $20 above the conforming benchmark, while the borrower retains the full $41,925 that would otherwise fund the down payment.
“VA loans can change the math of buying a home for eligible veterans and service members,” said Jiayi Xu, senior economist at US-based Realtor.com.
“Lower mortgage rates and more flexible credit criteria can also put homeownership within reach for buyers who might otherwise struggle to qualify. Making sure veterans understand these benefits is an important first step.”
Closing the awareness gap in VA loans
Credit flexibility is a further advantage: 24.3% of recent VA borrowers had a Fair credit score between 580 and 669, compared with 4.8% of conforming-loan borrowers.
No private mortgage insurance (PMI) is required, further reducing long-term costs.
Realtor.com survey data shows roughly one-third of first-time buyers cite insufficient savings as a primary barrier to homeownership, while one in five point to low credit scores, challenges VA loans are specifically designed to address.
The program’s potential in competitive, high-cost markets like California is a growing focus of broker strategy in 2026.
For brokers, the obstacle is rarely the loan itself.
As Brian Cooke Jr. of World Home Loans, a California-based VA mortgage brokerage, wrote in a recent MPA broker intel column: “As an industry, we’ve spent too much energy advertising rates and not enough explaining the benefit these folks earned.”
"The VA loan is one of the most powerful homebuying tools available, but knowing what you’ve earned and what it can do for you are two different things. That’s the education gap we’re working to close with Mission Zero. The biggest benefit of VA loans has been there from the beginning — the ability to buy with 0% down. But too many veterans still don’t know that’s possible,” said Chris Birk, vice president of mortgage insight at Veterans United Home Loans in the United States.
"We have to continue to challenge homebuying misconceptions, close the education gap and make sure veterans and service members understand what their hard-earned homebuying benefit truly offers."
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