Today’s Layton Mortgage Rates
Mortgage rates as of 8/27/2026
Mortgage rates as of 8/27/2026
Layton is the largest and most established military community serving Hill Air Force Base, ten to fifteen minutes from the gate, with a housing stock built out over five decades largely for people who work there. More VA loans close here than in almost any other Utah city.
That makes this page different from our others. Elsewhere the deciding issues are condo warrantability or builder escrow. In Layton they are entitlement, the funding fee, the VA appraisal, and how a lender treats BAH, and those are the four things we hear answered wrong most often, including by loan officers who should know better.
Hill’s published FY2024 figures put the total workforce at 26,893: more than 5,600 active duty, more than 14,000 government civilians, and more than 6,200 contract civilians, generating $12.76 billion in economic impact. Roughly twenty thousand of those twenty-seven thousand people are civilians, because the Ogden Air Logistics Complex is depot maintenance, work done by career civil servants and contractors, not by rotating airmen.
That ratio changes the borrower. Layton’s military-connected buyer is usually not transient. They are a GS employee eleven years into a career, or a contractor on a program older than their kids. They bought here, they are staying, and they will refinance with the same person who did the purchase. A fifteen-year hold justifies a permanent rate buydown that would be wasted on someone facing a PCS in thirty months, and a federal salary documented on a W-2 is about the cleanest income file underwriting sees.
Say this part plainly, because the confusion is everywhere: a Hill civilian employee who previously served is a veteran and uses exactly the same VA entitlement as someone in uniform. Eligibility comes from qualifying service, not from your current badge. It does not expire and it does not lapse. Selected Reserve and National Guard service can establish it too, which surprises people. A long Utah Air National Guard career often qualifies. We regularly meet people fifteen years into civil service who have been paying private mortgage insurance the whole time and were never once asked whether they served. The Certificate of Eligibility settles it, and we pull one electronically in minutes.
We also serve the genuinely transient side of the base, covered below. Our neighboring pages handle the rest of the corridor: Syracuse for new construction and Ogden for older and multi-unit stock.
Three things, and the middle one is worth more than most borrowers realize.
No down payment. VA guarantees a purchase loan at 100% of appraised value, not 96.5%, not 97%. You still bring closing costs and prepaid escrows, though seller concessions or Utah Housing assistance often cover them.
No monthly mortgage insurance, ever. Every other low-down-payment program charges a monthly premium to insure the lender against your default. VA charges a one-time funding fee instead, and then nothing.
| Program | Minimum down | Upfront cost | Monthly mortgage insurance | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VA, first use, zero down | $0 | 2.15% funding fee, financeable | $0 | Never charged |
| FHA | 3.5% | 1.75% upfront MIP | ≈0.55% annually on the balance | Life of the loan under 10% down |
| Conventional 3% down | 3% | None | Private MI, varies by score and LTV | Cancellable at 80% LTV |
Illustrative. FHA annual MIP and private MI pricing depend on loan amount, term, loan-to-value and credit score. We quote your actual numbers.
On a $436,000 FHA balance, roughly 0.55% annually is about $200 a month that never goes away unless you refinance out of FHA, on the order of $24,000 over a ten-year hold. You cannot buy your way out of it with a larger down payment unless you reach 10%, which merely shortens the premium to eleven years rather than ending it. If you are VA-eligible and someone put you into FHA without walking you through this comparison, ask them why.
Competitive rates. VA generally prices at or slightly below comparable conventional, because the guaranty reduces the lender’s loss exposure, and there is no high-LTV price adjustment for putting nothing down. Full detail on our VA loan page.
No. With full entitlement there is no VA loan limit: not in Layton, not in Davis County, nowhere. VA guarantees 25% of the loan amount with no ceiling on that amount. This has been the rule since the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act took effect in 2020, and it is still the most misunderstood fact in VA lending. Buyers call us every month convinced they cannot exceed the county conforming figure. They can.
What actually constrains a full-entitlement loan is the appraised value and whether your income, credit and residual income support the payment. A Layton buyer with full entitlement and the income to carry it can do a $900,000 VA loan with nothing down. Individual lenders apply their own overlays above certain amounts and may price it as a VA jumbo, but the guaranty itself is uncapped.
You have full entitlement if you have never used the benefit, or if you used it and have since restored it: the prior VA loan paid in full and the property sold, or refinanced into a conventional loan with restoration filed, or a one-time restoration granted while you kept the home.
Your entitlement is partial or reduced in two situations: an outstanding VA loan you still carry, such as the house in San Antonio you rented out when you came to Hill; or a prior VA loan that ended in foreclosure, deed in lieu, or a short sale where VA paid a claim you have not reimbursed. Only then do county limits apply, because they cap total guaranty. Davis County’s 2026 one-unit conforming limit is $832,750, and 25% of that is $208,187, the maximum guaranty available here.
Say you bought a $600,000 home elsewhere with a VA loan and still owe on it. VA charged $150,000 of entitlement to that loan, so your remaining entitlement in Davis County is $208,187 − $150,000 = $58,187. You can still buy with nothing down up to four times what is left: $232,750. Above that you owe 25% of the gap. On a $450,000 Layton purchase: ($450,000 − $232,750) × 25% = $54,312 down. Still a VA loan, still no monthly mortgage insurance, just not zero down.
Selling the departing home and paying off that loan restores the entitlement and returns you to zero down. Whether that beats keeping it as a rental depends on the old rate and the rent. Bring us both files and we will run them side by side.
The funding fee is what VA charges in place of mortgage insurance: a one-time percentage of the loan amount, financeable rather than paid in cash, sized by your down payment and by whether this is your first VA loan.
| Down payment | First use | Subsequent use | Penalty for repeat use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 5% | 2.15% | 3.30% | 1.15 points |
| 5% to 9.99% | 1.50% | 1.50% | None |
| 10% or more | 1.25% | 1.25% | None |
VA purchase funding fee schedule, unchanged since April 7, 2023. IRRRLs, cash-out refinances and assumptions carry different fees.
Read the right-hand column. The first-use versus subsequent-use penalty exists only below 5% down. At 5% and above the fee is identical whether this is your first VA loan or your fourth. Almost nobody structures around that, and for a repeat borrower it is the most valuable line on this page.
The arithmetic on a $450,000 Layton purchase, subsequent use. Zero down: base loan $450,000, fee at 3.30% is $14,850, financed loan closes at $464,850. Five percent down: you bring $22,500, base loan $427,500, fee at 1.50% is $6,412, financed loan closes at $433,912. Your $22,500 of cash reduced what you owe by $30,937, the extra $8,437 is funding fee you simply did not pay. Financed over thirty years at a 6.5% illustrative rate, that $8,437 alone would have cost about $53 a month and roughly $19,200 across the full term.
For a first-use borrower the same move saves 0.65 points, about $2,900 here, real, but a different order of magnitude. This is a repeat-borrower strategy, and repeat borrowers are exactly who buy in Layton: people on their second or third VA loan with proceeds from a sale in another state sitting in the bank. The honest counterpoint is that $22,500 in the bank is $22,500 of liquidity. If the alternative is closing with no reserves, take the zero-down loan and pay the fee. Reserves matter more than fee optimization.
The exemption nobody asks about. The funding fee is waived entirely for veterans receiving VA disability compensation, a 10% rating waives it as completely as a 100% rating. It is also waived for veterans who would be entitled to compensation but for receiving retirement or active duty pay, for Purple Heart recipients serving on active duty, and for eligible surviving spouses. On the example above that is $14,850. Your Certificate of Eligibility states your exemption status. If a rating comes through after closing, you can apply to VA for a refund of the fee, generally effective back to the date compensation was awarded.
A VA appraisal does two jobs: it estimates value, and it certifies that the property meets VA’s Minimum Property Requirements. The second job is where deals get delayed.
MPRs are a safety, soundness and sanitation standard. In practice the appraiser looks for a roof with reasonable remaining life and no active leaks; working mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems; a permanent heat source adequate for the space; safe potable water and acceptable sewage disposal; safe access, including a maintenance agreement on a shared private road; adequate crawlspace and attic ventilation with no standing water or evident structural distress; no exposed wiring or obvious hazards; and, on a pre-1978 home, no defective or peeling paint.
How this differs from FHA is mostly a matter of style. FHA’s standards live in a long prescriptive handbook and FHA appraisers write more granular condition calls; VA is broader and more judgment-based. The structural difference is that the VA appraiser is assigned by VA through its portal, not selected by the lender, so nobody gets to shop for a friendlier one. The overlap in outcomes is high: a 1960s or 1970s Layton home with an aging furnace, an original panel, or a roof at the end of its life draws conditions under either program. MPR repairs generally must be completed before closing, and who pays is a negotiation, occasionally where a VA offer loses ground on a competitive listing, though most Davis County listing agents have sold to VA buyers dozens of times and know better.
Tidewater is unique to VA and genuinely useful. If the appraiser’s analysis is heading below the contract price, the appraiser must notify the lender’s designated point of contact before finalizing the report, opening a two-business-day window to submit additional comparable sales and market data. When we get a Tidewater notice we call the listing agent the same hour, because they usually have sales the appraiser did not weight. It does not always work, but it is one of the few points in the process where speed on our end changes the outcome.
The appraisal produces a Notice of Value, VA’s formal statement of value and of any conditions to be satisfied. If the NOV lands below contract price you have four options: renegotiate, pay the difference in cash (VA will not lend above the NOV), request a Reconsideration of Value with new data, or terminate. VA requires an amendatory escape clause letting a VA buyer cancel and recover earnest money when the property does not appraise, protection conventional buyers do not get automatically.
Basic Allowance for Housing is qualifying income. So is Basic Allowance for Subsistence, and so are most other stable allowances: clothing allowance, family separation allowance where it continues, and flight or hazard pay with documented history. We evidence them from your Leave and Earnings Statement, which itemizes entitlements.
The gross-up is what changes your purchase price. BAH and BAS are not taxable, and underwriting allows non-taxable income to be increased to a pre-tax equivalent, because the comparison is against debts paid with after-tax dollars. Most investors permit a 25% gross-up; some are more conservative at 15%, and some tie it to your effective tax rate. The Ogden-metro E-5-with-dependents BAH rate for 2026 runs approximately $2,118 a month; grossed up 25% that counts as roughly $2,647, about $529 a month of qualifying capacity a lender who does not gross up simply leaves on the table. Confirm your own rate for your grade, dependency status and ZIP code.
Two cautions. If you are moving into on-base housing and BAH will stop, it is not continuing income. And VA adds a residual income test conventional loans do not have: after mortgage, taxes, insurance, debts, estimated utilities and maintenance, you must retain a minimum monthly amount based on family size and region, with Utah in the Western table. Residual income sometimes rescues a file with a high debt-to-income ratio and occasionally sinks one that looked fine on ratios alone. We run it upfront.
You can buy before you arrive. A copy of your PCS orders to Hill is acceptable documentation and you can close on a Layton home before you report. VA’s standard is intent to occupy as a primary residence, generally within 60 days of closing. Longer windows are possible for a specific documented reason with a defined date, but they are the exception and must be arranged in advance rather than explained afterward.
A spouse’s occupancy can satisfy the requirement when the service member is deployed or otherwise unable to occupy, a constant situation for Hill families where the member arrives months behind the household.
Spouse income counts when the spouse is on the loan. A married couple can both be on a VA loan with only one of them the veteran, and the non-veteran spouse’s income and credit are both used. The distinction that matters: an unmarried co-borrower who is neither your spouse nor another eligible veteran creates a joint loan where VA guarantees only the veteran’s share, which most lenders will not do without a substantial down payment. If you are buying with a fiancée, a sibling or a friend, tell us before you write.
Rental income on the home you are leaving. When a service member is reassigned and keeps the prior residence as a rental, VA is comparatively accommodating about counting that rent, generally an executed lease and evidence of a real tenant, sometimes reserves. That is more flexible than conventional treatment, where departing-residence rent typically requires either 30% equity in that property or six months of PITIA reserves on both homes.
Separating or retiring. Within a year of your separation date, underwriting wants documentation of what comes next: a signed civilian offer letter, a retirement award letter with the pension amount, or a VA compensation award. For Layton buyers separating into a position on base, that offer letter is usually all it takes. It is one of our most common files.
The Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan is the VA streamline and the least painful refinance in American lending. If you already have a VA loan, an IRRRL typically refinances you into a lower rate without a new appraisal and without re-verifying income, and the funding fee is only 0.50%: waived, again, for disability-exempt veterans.
The rules: you must already have a VA loan on the property; the new loan must deliver a net tangible benefit, ordinarily a lower rate or a move from adjustable to fixed; at least 210 days must have passed since the first payment due date on the existing loan and six consecutive payments must have been made; and the cost must be recouped through payment savings within 36 months. That recoupment test has teeth. It is what stops a lender from churning you into a marginally better rate while charging three points to do it. An IRRRL cannot take cash out beyond a small energy-efficiency allowance and cannot consolidate other debt.
The VA cash-out is a full refinance with appraisal and underwriting, and two things make it distinctive. VA permits cash-out at higher loan-to-value than conventional: the program allows up to 100% of value, though most lenders cap at 90%, and we will tell you where the market actually is when you call. And it can refinance a non-VA loan into a VA loan: a Layton veteran currently in FHA paying life-of-loan mortgage insurance can move to VA and end the monthly premium permanently, frequently the whole reason to do the transaction even without taking a dollar out. The fee is 2.15% first use and 3.30% subsequent, waived for exempt veterans. See our refinance page and, if you are weighing term length, our fixed-rate page.
Zero down does not mean zero cash. Closing costs, prepaid taxes, insurance and per-diem interest on a $450,000 Layton purchase can run into five figures, and Utah Housing Corporation can cover a meaningful piece.
The relevant product is Utah Housing’s FHA/VA program: 620 minimum credit score, no first-time buyer requirement, $165,200 statewide income cap. Because it layers a second mortgage onto a VA first, the assistance goes straight to closing costs rather than to a down payment you do not need. It comes as a 30-year fixed second in two shapes: traditional, up to 6% of the first mortgage capped at $27,500, priced at your first-mortgage rate plus one percent with an 8% ceiling, amortizing; or deferred, up to 3.5% with the same $27,500 cap, at 3.5% deferred simple interest with no monthly payment, due at sale, refinance or maturity.
FirstHome is also available in Davis County: 660 minimum score, income caps of $141,400 for a one-to-two-person household and $164,600 for three or more, maximum purchase price $778,500. FirstHome normally requires first-time buyer status, but veterans are exempt from that requirement, which is directly relevant here and routinely missed.
Two warnings. Utah Housing currently lists HomeAgain, NoMI and Score as suspended, so if you were told about one of those the information is stale. And UHC sets the rate on its first mortgages, so a Utah Housing loan is not automatically cheaper than a standard VA loan with seller concessions. We price it both ways. Detail on our Utah Housing page.
Not everyone buying in Layton is VA-eligible, and not every eligible veteran should use VA on every purchase. The rest of the picture, briefly.
Conforming. Davis County uses the 2026 national baseline of $832,750 on a one-unit property, the same as twenty-five of Utah’s twenty-nine counties. Only Summit and Wasatch ($1,150,000), Wayne ($997,050) and Grand ($839,500) sit above it.
FHA. Layton is in the Ogden MSA, where the 2026 FHA one-unit limit is $744,050: about $106,950 above Salt Lake County’s $637,100, because HUD sets FHA limits by metro and the Ogden metro is pulled up by Morgan County. A real advantage for a Davis County buyer using FHA; our Ogden page goes deeper on how that gap plays across the metro.
Property tax. Utah exempts 45% of a primary residence’s market value, so you are taxed on 55%. Davis County’s 2025 average total rate was 1.0108%, below Salt Lake’s 1.0504% and Weber’s 1.0371%. On a $500,000 primary residence that is roughly $2,780 a year, about $232 a month in escrow. Tax areas within the county vary, so we use the rate for your actual address rather than the county average.
No USDA. Davis County is inside the urbanized area and Layton is not eligible. Zero down here means VA, or Utah Housing assistance layered on an FHA or conventional first.
Closing costs. Utah has no real estate transfer tax and no documentary stamp tax. Recording is a flat per-document fee, Davis County moved to $45 under H.B. 38 effective May 6, 2026, the same whether the home sold for $300,000 or $1.5 million. Our fees run about 25% below many competitors and we charge no processing or junk fees, which matters doubly on a VA purchase, since VA restricts which fees a veteran may pay at all.
We finance homes throughout Layton and across Davis County: Layton Hills, East Layton and the bench above Highway 89, Oak Forest, Ellison Park, Adams Park, the Kays Creek corridor, the Legacy area on the west side, the Hill Field area closest to the base, Fort Lane, the Church Street corridor, and the neighborhoods running up against the Clearfield and Kaysville borders.
The lending questions shift by neighborhood. Homes near Hill Field and along the older Fort Lane and Church Street corridors are frequently 1960s and 1970s construction, where the VA appraisal and MPRs deserve attention before you write. Layton Hills and the east bench push toward price points where the conforming and FHA ceilings start to bind and full VA entitlement becomes genuinely valuable. The west side toward Legacy is newer, with more HOA and builder-financing questions. All of it is fifteen minutes or less from the gate, which is why people keep buying here.
Syracuse Bountiful Ogden Logan Salt Lake City All Utah cities »
Ready to start? Apply online or call 801-576-9336. We have brokered Utah mortgages since 2002, we close in three weeks on a clean file, and we will pull your Certificate of Eligibility before you write an offer.
No. With full VA entitlement there is no loan limit, VA guarantees 25% of the loan amount with no cap on the amount itself. Your loan size is governed by the appraised value and by whether you qualify on income, credit and residual income, not by a county figure. County limits apply only to borrowers with partial or reduced entitlement: an outstanding VA loan on another property, or a prior VA foreclosure or short sale. For those borrowers, Davis County’s 2026 conforming limit of $832,750 sets a maximum guaranty of $208,187, and remaining entitlement is what is left after subtracting the amount tied up elsewhere.
Yes, if they are veterans. Eligibility comes from qualifying military service, not from your current employer. A Hill civilian or contractor who served on active duty, or who has qualifying Selected Reserve or National Guard service, holds the same entitlement as someone in uniform, and it does not expire. Hill employs more than 20,000 civilians and contractors against roughly 5,600 active duty, so a great many Layton residents are sitting on unused entitlement. We pull Certificates of Eligibility electronically, usually in minutes.
On a purchase it is 2.15% for first use and 3.30% for subsequent use below 5% down, 1.50% either way at 5% to 9.99% down, and 1.25% either way at 10% or more. The repeat-use penalty exists only below 5% down, so a second-time VA borrower who puts 5% down cuts the fee from 3.30% to 1.50%: over $8,400 on a $450,000 purchase. It is waived entirely for veterans receiving VA disability compensation at any rating, for certain Purple Heart recipients, and for eligible surviving spouses. It can be financed rather than paid in cash.
Yes. BAH and BAS are both qualifying income, documented from your Leave and Earnings Statement. Because they are non-taxable they can be grossed up to a pre-tax equivalent, most investors allow 25%, some 15%. An Ogden-metro BAH of roughly $2,118 a month grossed up 25% counts as about $2,647 of qualifying income. The exception is an allowance that will stop, such as when you move into on-base housing. VA also applies a residual income test, based on family size and region, that conventional loans do not have.
Yes, using second-tier entitlement. If you kept a home elsewhere with an outstanding VA loan, the entitlement charged to it is subtracted from your maximum guaranty in Davis County, which is 25% of $832,750, or $208,187. What remains supports a zero-down loan of four times that figure. To borrow more, you owe a down payment equal to 25% of the gap. Paying off and selling the departing property restores the entitlement and returns you to zero down.
Before the report is finalized, VA’s Tidewater process requires the appraiser to notify the lender when value looks likely to fall short of the contract price, giving two business days to submit additional comparable sales. If the Notice of Value still comes in low you can renegotiate, pay the difference in cash since VA will not lend above the NOV, request a Reconsideration of Value with new data, or terminate. VA requires an amendatory escape clause letting a VA buyer cancel and recover earnest money when the property does not appraise for the contract price.
Yes. Utah Housing’s FHA/VA program requires a 620 minimum score, has no first-time buyer requirement, and caps income at $165,200 statewide. Because a VA loan needs no down payment, the assistance goes toward closing costs and prepaid escrows. It is a 30-year second mortgage: up to 6% of the first mortgage amortizing at your first-mortgage rate plus one percent, or up to 3.5% deferred at 3.5% simple interest, both capped at $27,500. Davis County FirstHome income caps are $141,400 for one to two people and $164,600 for three or more, and veterans are exempt from the first-time buyer requirement.
Three weeks or less on a clean file. VA loans are not inherently slower than conventional. What extends them here is the VA appraisal, since the appraiser is assigned by VA rather than chosen by the lender, and any Minimum Property Requirement repairs that surface on an older home near Hill Field or along Fort Lane. Both are predictable, which is why we flag them before you are under contract. If you are buying on PCS orders with a hard report date, give us that date at application and we build the timeline backward from it.
At Axent Funding we take pride in our great customer service. Our staff is here for you, so don’t hesitate to contact us if you have a question, a problem, or a suggestion.
We are a Utah mortgage broker offering conventional, FHA, Utah Housing / no down payment, VA, jumbo and home equity lines, plus niche products for condotel, one-time close construction, home remodel, reverse mortgage and debt consolidation. See Loan Types for the full list.
We walk you through the whole mortgage process and make sure your transaction closes smoothly. We can close a loan in 3 weeks or less.
Every loan program we offer, described side by side, so you can see which one fits.
Payment, affordability, amortization, refinance break-even and bi-weekly payoff.
Loan limits, Utah Housing caps, property tax and USDA coverage, county by county.
Axent Funding is licensed statewide and closes loans in every Utah county. We publish in-depth local guides for the markets we work in most: loan limits, Utah Housing eligibility, property tax and USDA coverage all change at the county line.