Buyers need $56,000 for the down payment on an average home

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1. Battle between NEXA co-founders goes to court

After last week's news that NEXA co-founder and president Mat Grella would be terminated, Grella shared a statement in an email sent to NMP that he filed suit against NEXA CEO Mike Kortas.

Grella claims that early this year he discovered Kortas had been making aircraft-related purchases with company money without his knowledge or consent.

“This termination occurred after months of frustration related to what I believe to be serious breaches of NEXA’s operating agreement, which requires profits to be distributed equally and for both partners to consent to activities not directly related to NEXA’s mortgage brokerage purposes,” Grella stated.

2. Typical homebuyer's down payment jumps 24%

The median down payment for U.S. homebuyers was $55,640 in February. That’s up 24.1% from $44,850 a year earlier—the largest annual increase in percentage terms since April 2022.

The typical homebuyer’s down payment last month was equal to 15% of the purchase price, up from 10% a year earlier.

This is based on a Redfin analysis of county records across 40 of the most populous metropolitan areas. Click here to view the metro-level data.

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3. Catch up quick

💸 Aidium Mortgage CRM raises $19M in Series A funding. (PR Newswire)

🏀 Billionaire mortgage battle: Inside the owner rivalry of Cavs' Dan Gilbert and Suns' Mat Ishbia. (ESPN)

👩‍💼 CHLA appoints Paulina McGrath as the new vice president. (CHLA)

4. 1 in 3 home purchases were made with cash in February

Over one-third (34.5%) of U.S. home purchases in February were made with all cash, up from 33.4% a year earlier. That’s just shy of the 34.8% decade-high hit in November, and isn’t far below the record high of 38% hit in 2013.

Some homebuyers are paying in cash for the same reason others are taking out large down payments: elevated mortgage rates. A large down payment helps ease the sting of high rates by reducing monthly interest payments, whereas an all-cash purchase removes the sting altogether because it means a buyer isn’t paying interest at all.

5. Charted: ‘Million-Dollar’ cities in the US

There are currently 550 U.S. cities where the typical home value is $1 million or more, up from 491 a year ago. California easily boasts the most million-dollar cities, followed by New York and New Jersey.

You’re all caught up. See you on Friday!

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