Home Purchase Down Payment

Pre-financing: saving the down payment for a home

Under SBPE/SFH, Brazilian housing finance usually caps the loan-to-value at 80% of the appraised property, which means you put 20% down payment upfront. There are really two questions to answer before that. First, how long it takes to save the down payment, which you get from FV = PMT × ((1+i)^n − 1) / i. Second, what the monthly installment ends up being once you choose between Tabela Price (a fixed installment) and SAC (a decreasing installment that costs less in interest overall). The biggest lender by far is Caixa Econômica Federal, with Banco do Brasil, Itaú, Bradesco and Santander behind it.

The Conselho Monetário Nacional (Res. 4,292/2013) recommends keeping the installment below 30% of household income, and in practice most banks treat that as a hard ceiling when they run credit analysis. Your FGTS balance helps a lot here. You can put it toward the down payment, use it to amortize part of the loan, or apply it against installments every 2 years, which cuts the saving phase down considerably. Don't forget the closing costs when you set your target. There's ITBI 2%–3% of the property value, which depends on the municipality, plus notary and registration fees of about 1% — figure on roughly 5% in upfront fees on top of the down payment.

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Plan the saving timeline for a first property, weigh Price against SAC, check whether your income clears the 30% rule, fold FGTS into the down payment, and budget for the ITBI and notary costs that tend to catch buyers off guard at closing.

FAQ

Price or SAC? With SAC you pay less interest in total and the installment shrinks as time goes by, though it starts off higher, so it works well if you expect your income to hold steady or grow. Price keeps the installment fixed, which is simpler to budget around, but you pay more in the end.

Can FGTS cover the full down payment? It can, provided the balance is enough and the property fits the SFH rules: it has to be urban, residential, and priced within the program ceiling, which is currently R$ 1.5 million in most states.

What's the real cost beyond the price? You're looking at the down payment, ITBI (2%–3%), notary and registration (~1%), the MIP/DFI insurance baked into each installment, and the monthly bank fees. Set aside at least 5% over the property value just for closing.