First-time home buyer programs in San Diego

What first-time home buyer programs are available in San Diego?

San Diego first-time buyers have three separate layers to work through, and they are run by different bodies: the San Diego Housing Commission administers City of San Diego, County of San Diego and City of Chula Vista assistance; CalHFA runs the statewide programs on top of them. Each has its own income band, its own loan terms and its own maximum purchase price.

The Housing Commission's programs are the substantial ones. For a household under 80% of area median income, the City of San Diego program is a deferred second at up to 17% of the purchase price capped at $125,000, at 3% simple interest, plus a closing-cost grant of 4% of the price up to $10,000. The County program for the same income band goes further on the loan — up to 22% of the purchase price — with the same 3% rate and a 4% closing-cost loan up to $10,000. Chula Vista runs its own at up to 22% capped at $120,000.

There is a middle-income tier that most buyers do not know exists. The City of San Diego offers households between 80% and 150% of area median income a $40,000 deferred down-payment loan at 4% simple interest plus a $10,000 closing-cost grant. The County's equivalent covers 80% to 120% of area median income at up to 17% of the purchase price. Income limits by household size change annually and are published by the Housing Commission rather than reproduced here, because a stale income limit on this page would be worse than a link.

All of it requires a homebuyer education class and pre-purchase counseling before you are eligible, which takes time and is worth starting before you are house-hunting rather than after an offer is accepted.

Is there a maximum purchase price for San Diego down payment assistance?

Every San Diego assistance program caps the purchase price, and in this county the cap is usually what decides whether a program is usable — not the buyer's income. The County program stops at $743,000, the City of San Diego low-income program at $883,025, Chula Vista at $807,500, and the City's middle-income program at $1,250,000.

Those four numbers do more to determine what is available to you than anything about your finances. A qualified low-income buyer looking in a coastal community will find the $743,000 County cap simply does not reach, while the same buyer in an inland or East County market may have real choice. It is the reverse of how these programs are usually explained, which leads with income and mentions the cap in a footnote.

The caps also move, and on their own schedules rather than together: the County figure took effect on 1 June 2026, the City's in December 2025 and Chula Vista's in October 2025. Check the current number against the specific property before writing anything — a cap that has not moved in a year is a cap that is about to.

Which down payment assistance program applies to my address?

Which San Diego program covers a property is decided by the jurisdiction the address sits in, not by the ZIP code or the neighborhood name. The City of San Diego runs its own, Chula Vista runs its own, and the County program covers the unincorporated areas plus twelve named cities.

The County program names its cities explicitly: Carlsbad, Coronado, Del Mar, Encinitas, Imperial Beach, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, Poway, San Marcos, Santee, Solana Beach and Vista. If a property sits in one of those, or in unincorporated county land, that is the program — and it is the one with the 22% loan and the $743,000 cap.

The Housing Commission describes its City of San Diego programs as covering ZIP codes beginning 921, which is useful shorthand and not a boundary. City limits do not follow ZIP codes, and a 921 ZIP can straddle them — the same problem as school attendance areas, and it wants the same answer: confirm the jurisdiction against the exact address.

One boundary matters more than the rest. Our Temecula, Murrieta and Menifee guides cover communities in Riverside County, where none of these San Diego programs reach at all. Buyers crossing the county line for price routinely assume the assistance travels with them. It does not.

Can I still apply for California Dream For All?

California Dream For All is closed to new applications, so a San Diego buyer still being pointed at it is working from stale advice. CalHFA's own page states that the application period for a Dream For All loan voucher “is now CLOSED”, the portal shut on 16 March 2026, and no new applications can be started. The page does not say whether or when it will reopen.

It is worth knowing what it was, because San Diego buyers are still being told to apply for it. Dream For All was a shared-appreciation second of up to 20% of the purchase price capped at $150,000. Repayment was the original loan plus a share of the appreciation — 20% of the gain for a moderate-income borrower, 15% for a household at or below 80% of area median income. Eligibility required one first-generation homebuyer, all borrowers to be first-time buyers, and one borrower to be a current California resident.

If an agent or a lender is still marketing it as available, that is a reason to check the rest of what they are telling you. The Housing Commission programs above are open and are larger in this county anyway.

What does CalHFA MyHome offer a San Diego buyer?

CalHFA MyHome is a deferred junior loan for down payment or closing costs, available to San Diego buyers at the lesser of 3.5% of the purchase price or appraised value on an FHA or other government first mortgage, or 3% on a conventional one. CalHFA also currently offers its Zero Interest Program and MyAccess alongside its CalPLUS first mortgages.

MyHome is smaller than the Housing Commission programs and that is the practical point: 3% of a San Diego purchase price is a different order of help from 22%. Where it earns its place is availability — it is open year-round and statewide, so it reaches buyers in jurisdictions the local programs do not cover, and it does not depend on a local funding cycle.

CalHFA sets a county income limit that changes annually and publishes it separately from the program pages, so it is linked rather than quoted here. Ask the lender to confirm the current San Diego County figure and your qualifying income against it before assuming eligibility — and note that CalHFA assistance runs through approved lenders, not through CalHFA directly.