Dive Brief:
- As the U.S. draws down its foreign troop deployments, returning veterans are helping the housing recovery by making up a rising percentage of home buyers and many are first-time buyers.
- The Veterans Affairs (VA) loans do not require down payments, making them affordable when others are not, and the program accounted for 8.1% of mortgages made in the first quarter of 2014.
- Veterans' mortgages accounted for 6.9% of borrowing last year and they were less than 2% of business 10 years ago.
Dive Insight:
The VA mortgages program is rooted in the G.I. Bill enacted in 1944. Veterans helped drive the economic expansion after World War II. In 1947, 28% of all mortgages were to veterans under the government program and that helped create American suburbs.