Texas first-time home buyer programs: limits and how to apply

Texas's main first-time buyer program is run by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA), the state housing agency. It offers low-rate mortgages with down payment help of up to 5% of the loan through approved lenders. You need a 620 credit score and income and price under county limits. Its help is a second mortgage, a smaller loan on top of your main one, not a gift.

A second state agency, the Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation (TSAHC), runs similar programs, and cities and counties add their own. Figures below are dated where the source gives a date. For the national basics, read our guide to first-time home buyer programs.

How does the state's My First Texas Home program work?

You start with a TDHCA-approved loan officer, take a homebuyer course, and meet these rules.

• First-time buyer. You, and any non-purchasing spouse, must not have owned and lived in a main home during the last three years. Qualified veterans and homes in targeted areas (areas of severe economic distress) are exempt.
• Credit score. A minimum of 620, according to TDHCA's brochure and lender guide.
• Class. Completion of an approved homebuyer education course is required.
• Limits. Household income and purchase price must fall under the limits for the county where you buy. Everyone who will sign the deed of trust, which is the loan document that secures the mortgage, is counted, including a non-purchasing spouse.
• Live there. The lender guide does not allow co-borrowers who will not live in the home.

TDHCA's help is a second mortgage of up to 5% of the loan, at 0% interest with no required monthly payments. It comes two ways. Which one is offered changes daily on TDHCA's rate notice. The 30-year deferred loan is due when you sell, refinance, transfer the home, pay off the first mortgage or stop living there. The three-year loan is forgiven if you are current on the first mortgage and still live there at the third anniversary. A second program, My Choice Texas Home, has no first-time rule and no purchase price limit, and its income limit is higher. TDHCA's rate notice dated October 5, 2026 shows a lower rate with no assistance than with assistance, so ask your lender to compare both.

What are the 2026 income and price limits?

TDHCA's table took effect July 13, 2026. Limits depend on the county and on whether you are a household of one or two or three or more. They are set as a share of area median family income (the middle income in the area).

Homes in targeted areas have higher limits, and several counties have their own rows, so check the full table. For how percent limits work, see what area median income means. My Choice Texas Home sets its income limit at up to 170% of the area median for loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) or the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). That is $172,550 in counties not listed separately and $228,480 in the Austin area.

What do the Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation's programs add?

TSAHC is a nonprofit created by the Texas Legislature. It runs two loan programs, Home Sweet Texas for households with low and moderate incomes, and Homes for Texas Heroes for teachers, police and corrections officers, firefighters and emergency medical staff, veterans and active military, and nursing faculty. Both offer a fixed-rate mortgage with help of up to 5% of the loan.

TSAHC says that help can be a grant, a loan forgiven after three years if you stay in the home, or a repayable loan, and that the minimum credit score is 620 on government loans and 640 on conventional loans. County limits are in its limits tool. It says you do not always have to be a first-time buyer.

What is the Texas mortgage credit certificate?

A mortgage credit certificate is a federal tax credit for part of the mortgage interest you pay each year. TDHCA offers it to first-time buyers and veterans, with a first mortgage through the program or on its own, and says the stand-alone version has no minimum credit score. TSAHC says its credit is 15% of your yearly interest. You can only use it if you owe federal income tax. Ask a lender about the tax rules before you count on it.

What help do cities and counties offer?

• Houston. The city's Homebuyer Assistance Program offers up to $75,000 to first-time buyers (no home owned in three years) with household income at or below 80% of the area median, for homes inside the city. It is a no-interest loan forgiven if you live in the home for eight years, and you repay a portion if you sell or move sooner. As of October 5, 2026, the city says it is not accepting new applications because program funds ran out, so check its page before you plan around it.
• Gift funds. TDHCA says local housing finance corporations add free gift funds in some counties. Its page lists the Capital Area corporation (Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays, Lee, Llano and Williamson counties), Harris County outside several cities, and the City of McKinney.
• Austin. The Austin Community Land Trust sells homes to first-time buyers at or below 80% of median family income, and the City of Austin's July 2025 release says it uses a lottery. The land stays in a trust, which keeps the price lower, and the price you can sell for later is limited. We could not confirm on October 5, 2026 that homes are open now.

What affordable homes for sale does Texas have right now?

As of October 5, 2026, we track 83 open Texas listings, 10 of them for homes for sale, all in Houston or Austin. Two of the 10 are the same Austin land trust program, listed from two sources. The other 73 are rentals, and 72 of those are housing authority waitlists. See the Texas page, Houston, Austin and all listings.

• Austin Community Land Trust homes: the City's July 2025 release gives prices of $207,654 to $261,078 for first-time buyers at or below 80% of median, for example $72,950 for one person and $104,200 for four. On October 5, 2026, the trust's own site showed no individual homes, and those income limits may have changed.
• The Ivory at the Chicon, Austin: 40 condos at $180,500 to $228,380 for households under 70% of median.
• Houston: new homes on Houston Land Bank lots, with up to $50,000 in buyer help, and the Houston Community Land Trust's Homebuyer Choice Program, which lists grants of up to $150,000 for buyers below 80% of median, with a minimum contribution of $70,000 from the buyer. The City of Houston also lists affordable homes in Robins Landing, South Union and South Acres. At South Acres the limit is 120% of the median, and the other communities set their own, so check each page.

How do you avoid grant scams?

The Federal Trade Commission says the government does not contact you out of the blue about grants, and no government agency will contact you to demand that you pay to get one. Start from the agency websites above, and use a counselor approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through the housing counselor search.

How do you apply, step by step?

1. Take TDHCA's Eligibility Quick Check on its site, which connects you with an approved loan officer, or call 1-800-792-1119.
2. Take an approved homebuyer course.
3. Choose a TDHCA-approved lender and ask which first mortgage fits.
4. Ask your city and county which help is open now, before you sign a contract.
5. Try our qualify check. It compares your household with the listings we track. What you type stays in your browser. See how to qualify for affordable housing.