Dive Brief:

• A plan by federal regulators and mortgage lenders to lower the required down payment on a home loan will not make it easier for homeowners to make their monthly payments, according to a new report by RealtyTrac.

• An analysis of housing affordability in 512 counties revealed that in half of those communities, residents have too much non-mortgage debt, such as car payments and student loans, to take on a monthly mortgage obligation.

• The Federal Housing Finance Agency last month endorsed lowering the down payment for a conventional mortgage from 20% to 3%. The RealtyTrac study noted that it would take the average house hunter two years to save up for a 3% down payment, compared to 12.5 years for a 20% down payment. Yet affording the mortgage payment would still be a problem for a buyer with additional debt, the study showed.

Dive Insight:

"The narrative is that it's too hard to get a loan today and when first-time buyers believe that, they won't even begin their search,” Rob Chrane of Down Payment Resource told DSNews. “That hurts the overall housing market."

The report also noted there are thousands of programs available nationwide to help homebuyers -- and that some of those programs offer more than $50,000 in assistance in high-cost areas. "Consumers for the most part have no idea that these programs exist, so they don’t think to ask for them," Chrane told DSNews.