NYC HomeFirst Down Payment Assistance: Who Qualifies

HomeFirst is New York City’s down payment program: HPD lends eligible first-time buyers up to $100,000 (or 20% of the price, whichever is less) at 0% interest, and the loan is forgiven if you live in the home for 10 or 15 years. You qualify if your household earns no more than 120% of the Area Median Income, you have not owned a home in the past three years, you finish an HPD-approved homebuyer course, and you buy a one- to four-family home, condo or co-op in the five boroughs that is under HPD’s price limit.

Everything below comes from HPD’s HomeFirst page and its Term Sheet dated May 11, 2026. HPD updates the limits, so confirm the numbers with a counseling agency before you sign a contract. For a quick yes/no on your own numbers, use the HomeFirst eligibility checker.

How the HomeFirst loan works

HomeFirst is a forgivable loan, not a grant. HPD records an enforcement mortgage (or, for a co-op, a UCC financing statement) against your home at closing. You make no payments and pay no interest. As long as you keep living there as your primary home for the whole term, the loan goes away.

• Loan amount: the lesser of 20% of the purchase price or $100,000. A $400,000 home can get up to $80,000; any home at $500,000 or more is capped at $100,000.
• Term: 10 years if the loan is $40,000 or less, 15 years if it is more than $40,000. Loans paid from City funds are 15 years whatever the amount.
• Uses: down payment and closing costs, including title insurance, commitment fees and attorney fees. It cannot be used for renovation.

The City raised the income ceiling from 80% to 120% of AMI in January 2025, when it added $82 million over five years to the program. That change brought many more moderate-income households into range.

HomeFirst income limits for 2026

Your household’s gross annual income must be at or below 120% of AMI for your household size. HPD posts these limits based on HUD’s figures. These are the limits HPD lists as effective June 1, 2026:

There is also an asset limit. Your household’s liquid assets (savings, checking, CDs, stocks, bonds and the down payment deposit) cannot be worth more than the income limit for your household size. Retirement and college savings accounts don’t count.

Purchase price limits

An existing home must sell at or below 95% of HUD’s purchase price limits. These are the limits HPD lists, effective December 1, 2025:

A condo or co-op apartment counts as one unit. Newly built or rehabilitated homes have separate limits, which HPD links from its program page. The Term Sheet also says homes in a federal “Exception Area” may go above these thresholds; ask your counselor whether that applies to an address you are considering.

Who counts as eligible

The buyer

• First-time buyer: you have not owned a home in the past three years.
• Owner-occupant: the home must be your primary residence for the whole loan term. You must live and sleep there at least 270 days a year (active military duty excepted) and use it as your only address on tax returns, voter registration and your driver’s license.
• No renting out your unit. In a two- to four-family house you may rent the other units, not the one you live in.
• No help from outside co-signers. Non-occupying co-signers, co-borrowers and guarantors can’t be used.
• No family sales. You can’t buy from a relative, including a parent, child, current or former spouse, in-law, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, grandparent, cousin or sibling of anyone in your household.

The mortgage

HomeFirst sits behind a regular first mortgage, and that mortgage has its own rules:

• From an HPD-approved participating lender. Mortgage brokers may not be used.
• Fixed rate, fully amortizing, 15 to 40 years. No interest-only, adjustable, low-doc or no-doc loans.
• Must meet FHA, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac underwriting. 100% financing isn’t accepted.
• Loan-to-value up to 95% (except VA-guaranteed loans); combined loan-to-value up to 115%.
• Housing costs no more than 50% of income, and total debt-to-income no more than 55%.
• Minimum 620 credit score, or 580 if an FHA lender has approved the mortgage.

The home

• A one- to four-family house, a condo or a co-op, in the five boroughs.
• It must pass an inspection. Your home inspector completes the HPD HomeFirst Inspection Report, which shows the home meets state and local housing codes.

What happens if you sell, move or refinance

You must repay the whole loan if you gave false information or stop living in the home as your primary residence. If you sell or transfer the home during the occupancy period, you repay the lesser of your net proceeds or the amount owed, and the amount owed shrinks over time:

If you refinance, you must pay HPD 50% of the “refinancing profits,” meaning the amount of total proceeds above the original purchase price. Whatever you owe at recapture is due in one payment; it can’t be paid in installments.

Worked example

A household of three earning $150,000 wants a $520,000 one-bedroom co-op in Queens. Income is under the $183,240 limit and the price is under Queens’ $699,000 one-unit limit.

• 20% of $520,000 is $104,000, so the HomeFirst loan is capped at $100,000.
• The buyer must put in at least 3% from their own funds: $15,600.
• Because the loan is over $40,000, the occupancy period is 15 years.
• If they sold in year 8 (after the 6th and 7th anniversaries had reduced the balance by 10% each), they would owe the lesser of their net proceeds or 80% of the loan, about $80,000.

Co-op buyers also need the co-op board to accept the financing. Many boards set their own down payment and post-closing liquidity rules; see co-op financial requirements.

How to apply

1. 1

   Contact an HPD-approved counseling agency

   HPD lists approved HUD-certified agencies in every borough on its HomeFirst page. The agency checks your income eligibility and guides you through the program.
2. 2

   Take the homebuyer education course

   Only classes from HPD-approved agencies count. You receive a Homebuyer Education Certificate, and HPD then issues a completion certificate.
3. 3

   Get pre-approved by a participating lender

   Take your certificate to a lender on HPD’s participating lender list. Remember: no mortgage brokers. See our guide to mortgage pre-approval.
4. 4

   Find a home, hire an attorney and sign a contract

   Check the price limit for the borough and number of units first. Make sure your contract gives you time for HomeFirst approval.
5. 5

   Pass the HomeFirst inspection

   Your inspector completes the HPD HomeFirst Inspection Report. You pay for the inspection.
6. 6

   Submit the application through your counselor

   The counselor sends the complete package to the HPD loan servicer (NHS NYC or CNYCN). Pay the $250 part of the fee at submission.
7. 7

   Sign the Notice of Loan Approval within 10 days

   The approval states your loan amount and closing conditions. It expires 120 days after issue, so your first mortgage must close in that window.
8. 8

   Close

   You sign the loan note, the enforcement mortgage (or co-op UCC filing) and an owner-occupancy affidavit, and pay the $1,250 balance of the fee.

Does HomeFirst work with other programs?

HomeFirst only requires that your first mortgage come from an approved lender and meet FHA, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac underwriting, so an FHA loan or a conventional loan can work if it meets the rules above. State programs such as SONYMA have their own rules; see first-time homebuyer programs in New York State and ask a lender that participates in both.

Next steps

• Check your numbers with the HomeFirst eligibility checker.
• Budget the rest of your closing costs with NYC closing costs for buyers.
• Read how to buy a home in NYC for the full process.
• Questions for HPD: [email protected].