BISMARCK – North Dakota Housing Finance Agency (NDHFA) announced it has adjusted eligibility limits for programs that assist state residents, typically first-time buyers, with a home purchase. NDHFA provides down payment and closing cost assistance and reduced interest rate mortgage loans to income-qualified households.

“NDHFA has helped more than 56,000 North Dakota families buy their first home,” said Brandon Dettlaff, NDHFA executive director, in the announcement. “Through our agency, thousands of new and returning residents have been assisted in establishing themselves in our communities.”

Through NDHFA’s FirstHome program, low- to moderate-income buyers who have not owned a home in the past three years can receive the purchase assistance. The agency’s HomeAccess program provides similar benefits to single parents, veterans and families with disabled or elderly household members.

The new maximum income limits for the programs are $105,730 to $121,590, depending on family size. The acquisition cost limits were set at $500,000 for a single-family home and approved higher limits for existing two- to four-unit properties.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Internal Revenue Service regulate the income and acquisition cost limits, respectively.

“Last year, with the support of our private-sector partners, NDHFA provided 1,739 first-time homebuyers with more than $10 million in purchase assistance,” Dettlaff said.

The average FirstHome loan purchased by NDHFA in 2025 was just under $240,000, and the average borrower’s household income was $74,336.

Approved, private-sector lenders originate the loans on NDHFA’s behalf and sell them to the agency when they are closed.