--- title: A Surprisingly Large Number of First-Time Homebuyers Are Funding Their Down Payments With Crypto Profits description: In a new survey from Redfin, nearly 15% of homebuyers say they used profits from crypto trading to help save for a house down payment. authors: - name: Sarah Hansen role: Senior Writer url: https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/ bio: Sarah Hansen is a senior writer at Money covering all things personal finance. Previously, she covered economic policy and capital markets on the breaking news desk at Forbes. education: Northwestern University, New York University at_money_since: 2021 articles: 347 covers: - Housing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-m-hansen/ former_staff: true published: '2022-01-07T17:43:43.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T13:22:40.000Z' section: Housing tags: - Cryptocurrency - first-time homebuyers - homebuyers word_count: 452 canonical: https://money.com/first-time-homebuyers-crypto-down-payments/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![House illustration with many crypto coins stamped on top of it](https://img.money.com/2022/01/News-First-time-homebuyers-selling-crypto-for-down-payment.jpg) The cryptocurrency boom is helping some homebuyers break into a red [hot real estate market](https://money.com/winter-home-buying-outlook-2022/). A new [survey](https://www.redfin.com/news/real-estate-cryptocurrency-down-payments/) from Redfin found that 11.6% of people buying homes for the first time said that selling investments in [cryptocurrency](https://money.com/what-is-cryptocurrency/) had helped them save for a down payment. The survey of 1,500 U.S. residents planning to buy or sell homes within the next year was conducted in December. Thanks to [crypto's meteoric growth](https://money.com/crypto-bitcoin-taxes-2021/), the portion of first-time homebuyers using gains from trading digital currencies to fund down payment savings is rising: 8.8% of first-time buyers said the same in the third quarter of 2020, and 4.6% said the same in the third quarter of 2019. It's worth noting that the data reflect generational trends. Crypto investors and first-time homebuyers both tend to skew young, with particularly big representation [among millennials](https://money.com/first-time-home-buyer-2021/). “With extra time and a lack of exciting ways to spend money, many people began trading cryptocurrencies during the pandemic,” Daryl Fairweather, chief economist for Redfin, said in a statement. It’s also a lot more difficult to save up for a house than it used to be. According to a [National Association of Realtors report](https://cdn.nar.realtor/sites/default/files/documents/2021-highlights-from-the-profile-of-home-buyers-and-sellers-11-11-2021.pdf), the typical down payment for a first-time buyer in 2021 was 7% of the total. So, for a $300,000 home, that would be $21,000. Last November, one economist estimated that it was taking first-time homebuyers [ten months longer](https://money.com/years-to-save-for-house-down-payment-rising/) to put together a down payment than it did before the pandemic, thanks to [home price growth](https://money.com/home-price-growth-slowdown-2021/) that continues to rise faster than wages. It's no wonder that some hopeful homebuyers are turning to the soaring crypto market for a boost. “Crypto is one way for people without generational wealth to win a lottery ticket to the middle class,” Fairweather added, though she noted that “some of those investments went up in smoke.” [Bitcoin](https://money.com/what-is-bitcoin/) rose to record highs in 2021, [gaining nearly 50%](https://money.com/best-trendy-investments-2021-tesla/) over the course of the year with lots of ups and downs along the way. (Bitcoin is actually suffering a [significant drop](https://money.com/bitcoin-crypto-price-drop-mainstream/) this week.) Altcoins like Ether and [Dogecoin](https://money.com/what-is-dogecoin/) also exploded in popularity last year as investors piled into digital currencies at record rates. Many raked in impressive returns, but remember: Digital investments are volatile and risky. While some experts expect prices to [keep climbing](https://money.com/bitcoin-price-predictions-100000/), you shouldn’t invest any money in cryptocurrencies that you aren’t prepared to lose. Redfin’s survey found that the old school way of [saving for a down payment](https://money.com/save-down-payment-or-pay-student-loans/) was still the most popular: 52% of people said they set aside money directly from their paychecks. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/first-time-homebuyers-crypto-down-payments/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Housing", "item": "https://money.com/housing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Real Estate", "item": "https://money.com/real-estate/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "A Surprisingly Large Number of First-Time Homebuyers Are Funding Their Down Payments With Crypto Profits" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/first-time-homebuyers-crypto-down-payments/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/first-time-homebuyers-crypto-down-payments/", "name": "A Surprisingly Large Number of First-Time Homebuyers Are Funding Their Down Payments With Crypto Profits", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2022-01-07T17:43:43.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/first-time-homebuyers-crypto-down-payments/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/first-time-homebuyers-crypto-down-payments/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T13:22:40.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "A Surprisingly Large Number of First-Time Homebuyers Are Funding Their Down Payments With Crypto Profits", "articleSection": "Housing", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2022/01/News-First-time-homebuyers-selling-crypto-for-down-payment.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-First-time-homebuyers-selling-crypto-for-down-payment" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sarah Hansen", "url": "https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/#author", "description": "Sarah Hansen is a senior writer at Money covering all things personal finance. 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