If you are buying your first home in St. George, Utah, there are exactly three Utah Housing Corporation loan programs open to you, one state assistance program worth up to $20,000 that only works on new construction priced at or under $450,000, and no city or county down payment program at all. That last part catches people off guard, because several websites aimed at St. George buyers still advertise a City of St. George down payment assistance program that the city stopped running after the 2017 program year. Here is what actually exists in Washington County right now, what the income and price limits are here as opposed to Salt Lake, and where the fine print bites.
Utah Housing runs three loan programs, not four
Utah Housing Corporation currently offers three first-mortgage programs: FirstHome, the FHA/VA Mortgage Loan, and the Freddie Mac HFA Advantage Mortgage Loan. That is the whole list, straight from Utah Housing Form 300, its all-program eligibility matrix, revised July 6, 2026. Form 300 is published as a PDF. Only FirstHome requires first-time buyer status. The other two are open to repeat buyers, so plenty of people who assume Utah Housing is closed to them are wrong.
Two program names you will still see in 2026 search results are dead. Utah Housing announced on January 10, 2023 that "the FHA/VA Mortgage will replace the HomeAgain and Score Loan programs," effective February 14, 2023. Several pages ranking for Utah first-time buyer searches still list them as current, one of them headlined for 2026. If you call a lender asking for HomeAgain, you are asking for a product retired three and a half years ago.
| Utah Housing program | First-time buyer required | Income limit for Washington County | Maximum purchase price | Minimum credit score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FirstHome (FHA or VA financing) | Yes, no ownership interest in a principal residence for three years | $118,000 for a household of one or two, $135,700 for three or more | $635,300 | 660 |
| FHA/VA Mortgage Loan | No | $165,200 | None, but the loan is capped at the FHA limit | 620 |
| Freddie Mac HFA Advantage (conventional) | No | $165,200 | None, but the loan is capped at the conforming limit | 680 for a single-family home |
Those limits took effect June 23, 2026 and are published on Utah Housing's income and purchase price limits page. One warning about that source: Utah Housing's lender "recent updates" page still lists a May 29, 2025 announcement as the newest, and those numbers are lower. Anyone citing that page is quoting last year.
On Utah Housing's rate sheet dated September 11, 2026, FirstHome priced at 6.250 percent, the FHA/VA Mortgage at 6.750 percent, and HFA Advantage at 7.125 or 7.250 percent depending on whether household income is under 80 percent of area median. Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey put the national 30-year fixed average at 6.76 percent as of September 10, 2026. Utah Housing reprices most business days, so treat those as September 11 numbers rather than today's quote.
Washington County's limits run lower than Salt Lake's
A St. George buyer using FirstHome faces a lower ceiling than a Salt Lake buyer does, on both income and price. Washington County's FirstHome income limit is $118,000 for a household of one or two against Salt Lake County's $126,100, and $135,700 for three or more against $145,000. The maximum acquisition cost here is $635,300 against Salt Lake's $666,600. The 2026 FHA loan limit for a one-unit home follows the same pattern: $607,200 in the St. George metro area against $637,100 in Salt Lake County, per HUD's published limits effective January 1, 2026.
A trap sits between those two numbers. FirstHome will let you buy at $635,300, but FHA lends only to $607,200 here, and FirstHome runs only on FHA or VA financing. A buyer at the top of the FirstHome range needs roughly $28,000 more than the minimum down to keep the loan under the FHA cap. The price limit and the loan limit are two different rules doing two different jobs, and I see them treated as one number constantly.
One more number behaves differently. The Freddie Mac 80 percent area median income threshold that sets HFA Advantage pricing is $84,720 in Washington County against $100,880 in Salt Lake County, so a household at $95,000 gets the cheaper tier in Salt Lake and the dearer one here, on the same program.
The down payment help is a second mortgage, and nobody forgives it
Utah Housing offers two down payment assistance options, and both are repayable second loans rather than grants. The traditional second covers up to 6 percent of the first mortgage amount, capped at $27,500, amortized over 30 years with its own monthly payment at 1 percent above your first mortgage rate and capped at 8 percent. Against the September 11 sheet, a FirstHome borrower's second prices at 7.25 percent with a payment from day one.
The newer deferred second covers up to 3.5 percent, also capped at $27,500, at 3.5 percent simple interest with no monthly payment. The principal and the accrued interest come due when you sell, refinance, or hit maturity. Neither option is forgiven, and Utah Housing will not subordinate its second behind a new lien, which matters the first time you refinance. There is no minimum borrower contribution and no reserve requirement, so this is a real path to buying with very little cash. It is still debt.
The state's $20,000 is funded, and it is new construction only
Utah's First-time Homebuyer Assistance Program, created by Senate Bill 240 in 2023, is alive and taking reservations. Senate Bill 240 is on the legislature's site. Utah Housing's live counter showed 389 reservations remaining when I checked on the morning of September 14, 2026. The legislature added another $10 million during the 2026 session, confirmed in a Utah Housing announcement dated July 14, 2026, bringing the total since inception to roughly $80 million.
The terms, under Utah Code 63H-8-502 as amended effective May 7, 2025: up to $20,000 toward a down payment, closing costs, or a permanent rate buydown, at zero percent with no monthly payment. When you sell or refinance, you repay the lesser of what you received or 50 percent of the equity in the home. That shared-equity clawback is why Utah Housing's paperwork calls it a loan while plenty of coverage calls it a grant. You also need 12 months of Utah residency before closing, and the income limit is not its own number, it is whichever Utah Housing first mortgage you use. A St. George household at $160,000 still qualifies on FHA/VA rather than FirstHome.
The catch is the one that matters most here. The home must be new construction or newly built and never lived in, and the price cannot exceed $450,000. Washington County's median sale price was $520,000 in August 2026, so the cap sits below the middle of our market. It is not out of reach. Running our MLS feed on September 14, 2026 for homes and condos built in 2025 or later in Washington County, 165 of the 929 active and pending listings were at or under $450,000, and 94 were at or under $400,000. That slice skews toward townhomes and the smaller production plans. To see it, start with our St. George new construction page and our condos and townhomes page, which is where most of the sub-$450,000 new inventory lives.
House Bill 541 in the 2026 session proposed dropping the new-construction requirement and allowing $10,000 toward existing homes. Its enacting clause was struck on March 6, 2026. An existing home does not qualify today, no matter how modest the price.
St. George has no city down payment program, whatever you read
The City of St. George does not run a down payment assistance program and has not for years. Its own PY2026 Annual Action Plan says so plainly: the city "elected not to continue that program for the 2017 program year and has not reimplemented it since that time." That plan sets every one-year affordable housing goal at zero, and the city's 2025 performance report shows 56 households expected to receive direct financial assistance over the plan period and zero actually assisted. I also read the city's live Community Development Block Grant page on September 14, 2026, and it does not mention homebuyer assistance anywhere. That page is on the city's website.
I spell this out because at least two local real estate sites still describe a St. George city program paying $6,000 or $10,000, and a buyer planning around that money is planning around nothing. Washington County's attainable housing strategies, updated June 2025, are all supply-side work like zoning and fee waivers. The Five County Association of Governments serves local governments rather than individuals. To hear it from the city rather than from me, its Community Development Block Grant office is at 435-627-4006.
Habitat for Humanity of Southwest Utah is a different animal worth knowing about. It serves Washington and Iron counties with a zero percent 30-year mortgage set at 30 percent of household income, for households between roughly 30 and 80 percent of area median, in exchange for sweat equity. It is not down payment assistance, it still needs $1,500 at closing, and its application windows open and close. Their number is 435-674-7669.
USDA is the quiet option here, and it turns on your address
Washington County is partly eligible for USDA Rural Development financing, which requires no down payment. The St. George urban core, Washington City and Santa Clara sit inside USDA's ineligible area. Hurricane, La Verkin, Toquerville, Leeds, Ivins and the outlying valleys like Veyo, Dammeron Valley, Pine Valley, New Harmony and Enterprise fall outside it and test eligible against USDA's own mapping layer, whose current boundaries carry an effective date of July 25, 2023. Ivins sits close enough to the line that I would not assume anything there without checking the specific address. USDA determines eligibility by address rather than by town, so run yours through the USDA eligibility tool first. USDA publishes that tool on its eligibility site.
There is a real trade-off. No Utah Housing program runs on USDA financing, so choosing USDA means giving up the Utah Housing second and the state's $20,000. For a buyer with no cash and an eligible address in the Hurricane valley, zero down with no assistance often beats a small down payment stacked with two extra liens. The answer moves with the rate. Hurricane valley listings sit on our area page.
If you served, VA beats all of it
A VA loan requires no down payment and carries no monthly mortgage insurance. The funding fee on a purchase with less than 5 percent down is 2.15 percent of the loan amount for first use, per the VA funding fee table effective April 7, 2023, and it can be financed. The VA publishes that table on its housing assistance site. Veterans receiving or entitled to receive compensation for a service-connected disability are exempt from the fee. Utah Housing also has a Homebuyer Veteran Grant of up to $2,500, actual cash with no repayment, for service members and veterans separated within the last five years who are first-time buyers in Utah. It showed 191 remaining on September 14, 2026, while the law enforcement and correctional officer grant showed zero.
What I would check first
Start with your address and your income, in that order, because those two facts clear most of the confusion before you talk to anyone. If the home you want is in Hurricane or Toquerville, USDA may make the assistance question moot. If your household is under $118,000 and you have not owned in three years, FirstHome is likely your cheapest rate. Over that but under $165,200, the FHA/VA program is still open and still carries the $20,000 if you will buy new.
Run your actual closing number early rather than a percentage someone quoted you, since these programs pay closing costs as readily as down payment. Our St. George closing cost calculator uses the filed title rate tables and the real escrow split rather than a rule of thumb. Run your own numbers in the closing cost calculator. For where prices sit now, our monthly St. George market report carries each month's county figures, and everything currently listed is on our St. George homes for sale page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who counts as a first-time home buyer in Utah?
Under Utah Housing's FirstHome rules, a first-time buyer is someone who has not held an ownership interest in a principal residence in the three years before the loan is signed, with exceptions for single parents and veterans. The state's $20,000 assistance program uses the same three-year test. Utah Housing's other two programs do not require first-time status at all.
What is the Utah Housing income limit in Washington County?
It depends on the program. FirstHome caps household income at $118,000 for one or two people and $135,700 for three or more in Washington County. The FHA/VA Mortgage Loan and the Freddie Mac HFA Advantage program both cap at $165,200 regardless of household size or county. All three figures took effect June 23, 2026.
Does St. George have a down payment assistance program?
No. The City of St. George discontinued its Down Payment Assistance Program after the 2017 program year and states in its PY2026 Annual Action Plan that it has not reinstated it. Washington County and the Five County Association of Governments offer no buyer financial assistance either, so Utah Housing's statewide programs are the realistic option here.
Can I use Utah's $20,000 first-time buyer program on an existing home?
No. The home must be new construction or newly built and never occupied, and the price cannot exceed $450,000. House Bill 541 in the 2026 session would have opened the program to existing homes at a $10,000 level, but its enacting clause was struck on March 6, 2026.
Do you have to pay back Utah Housing down payment assistance?
Yes, all of it. Both Utah Housing down payment options are repayable second mortgages rather than grants, and neither is forgiven with time. The traditional second amortizes over 30 years at 1 percent above your first mortgage rate, capped at 8 percent. The deferred second charges 3.5 percent simple interest with no payment until you sell, refinance or reach maturity. Both cap at $27,500.
How much do you need for a down payment in St. George, Utah?
Less than most people expect. VA requires zero down, and USDA requires zero down at an eligible address, which in Washington County means Hurricane, La Verkin, Toquerville, Leeds and the outlying valleys rather than St. George itself. FHA requires 3.5 percent, and Utah Housing's second mortgage can cover that plus closing costs up to $27,500. The practical cash minimum is often just earnest money plus inspection and appraisal fees.
Talk it through with someone local
These programs change faster than the pages describing them get updated, which is why this article carries a date on every figure. If you want help working out which combination fits your income, your address and the kind of home you actually want, call or text me at 435-200-5508. You can also send me a message through my contact form. I have sold real estate in St. George for 13 years, and I would rather spend twenty minutes on this with you than watch you plan around a program that closed nine years ago.