In years past, a 20% down payment was commonly required by lenders in order to purchase a property.  Mortgage lending has come a long way since that time.  One major change was the advent of mortgage insurance.   This allowed banks to extend their mortgage financing further without any additional risk.  Any mortgage for more than 80% of the purchase price will require mortgage insurance.  In the past several years there have been a number of mortgage programs that would allow up to 100% financing on a piece of property, however there has been a dramatic decrease of these programs in the past year.  The question of how much money to put down is going to become a personal one.  One factor is how much the bank will lend on the particular property.  Another factor is of course how much you have saved to put towards the property.  The more money you are able to put down on the purchase, the lower your mortgage payment will be.  Many borrowers that have the funds for larger down payments opt not to do so in order to keep their money working in their investments rather than tied up in a piece of real estate.  It’s going to come down to a personal choice based on what’s the best for your future.