Today’s West Jordan Mortgage Rates
Mortgage rates as of 9/3/2026
Mortgage rates as of 9/3/2026
West Jordan is the middle of the Salt Lake County market in the most literal sense. Downtown buyers fight condo warrantability. East-bench buyers fight the conforming ceiling. West Jordan buyers fight neither. What they face is a genuine, consequential choice between an FHA loan and a low-down-payment conventional loan, a choice most lenders resolve for you in four seconds based on nothing but a credit score.
That is a disservice. At these prices the wrong pick can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and the right one depends on your score, your down payment, how long you will own the place, the condition of the house, and what a mortgage insurer quotes.
FHA takes 3.5% down at a 580 score, forgives debt-to-income, collections and a recent bankruptcy, and lets a non-occupant family co-borrower help you qualify. Conventional goes to 3% down for a first-time buyer or 5% for anyone, but is unforgiving on credit, the rate and the mortgage insurance premium are both priced off your score.
| FHA | Conventional (3% / 5% down) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum down payment | 3.5% at 580+ score | 3% first-time buyer programs; 5% otherwise |
| Practical credit floor | 580, often 620 by lender overlay | 620 by rule; competitive from roughly 680 up |
| Rate sensitivity to score | Low | High |
| Upfront mortgage insurance | 1.75% of the loan, normally financed | None |
| Annual mortgage insurance | Monthly, and on most modern FHA loans it lasts the life of the loan | PMI priced by score and LTV, and it cancels |
| Seller concession cap | 6% of sales price | 3% above 90% LTV; 6% at 75.01-90%; 9% at 75% or less |
| Appraisal standard | Minimum property standards; condition calls common | Value opinion; condition matters far less |
| Assumable by a future buyer | Yes, with qualification | No |
| Salt Lake County ceiling | $637,100 | $832,750 |
Program parameters as currently published. Mortgage insurance pricing, lender overlays and concession rules change. We confirm each against live guidelines when we quote your file.
One thing should stand out. FHA is easier and cheaper to get into. Conventional is harder to get into and dramatically cheaper to stay in. Which matters more is not a mortgage question. It is a question about how long you intend to own the house.
FHA collects two premiums. The upfront premium is 1.75% of the base loan, and virtually everyone finances it rather than paying cash, so you start out owing more than the house cost. Then comes the annual premium, billed monthly. Here is the part glossed over on nearly every mortgage site in the state: on a 30-year FHA loan with less than 10% down, which is almost every FHA purchase, the annual premium is charged for the life of the loan. It does not fall off at 78% or 80% loan-to-value, and appreciation does not help. The only exits are paying the loan off or refinancing out of FHA. Put 10% or more down and it runs eleven years instead.
Conventional has no upfront premium, and under the federal Homeowners Protection Act the monthly PMI has to end: automatically at 78% loan-to-value on the original amortization schedule if you are current, on written request at 80%, and at the midpoint of the term regardless. There is a fourth route most borrowers never hear about, early cancellation based on current value. If the home has appreciated or you have improved it, you can request cancellation using a new appraisal instead of the original price. Agency guidelines generally allow that at 75% loan-to-value once the loan is two years old, or 80% once it is five.
Take a $500,000 purchase as an illustration. A round number to run arithmetic on, not a market statistic. With FHA at 3.5% down the base loan is $482,500, and financing the upfront premium takes the balance to roughly $490,900. The annual premium runs in the neighborhood of $225 a month and declines only as slowly as the balance does. Ten years in you will have paid close to $26,000 in premiums on top of the $8,400 financed at closing, and in year eleven you are still paying.
Conventional at 5% down means a $475,000 loan with nothing added for upfront MI. What the PMI costs depends entirely on your score, a strong-score borrower may be quoted a third of what a mid-600s borrower pays for identical coverage. But whatever the number, it expires. Amortization alone takes a 95% loan to 80% in roughly nine years at current rate levels, and appreciation plus an appraisal gets there sooner. After that the payment drops and never comes back.
So, honestly: if you will sell or refinance in three or four years, FHA’s permanent mortgage insurance is not really permanent for you, and the easier terms may well win. If you are buying here to live for ten or fifteen years, that premium justifies waiting a few months on a credit score, or finding another 1.5% for a 5% down payment. Run it on our mortgage calculators, then call 801-576-9336.
FHA insurance is priced on a flat government schedule that ignores your score, and FHA rates are only mildly score-sensitive. Conventional is score-sensitive twice over, in the loan-level pricing that sets your rate, and again in the PMI premium. Two penalties on one number.
Below the low 600s, FHA usually wins outright, and often it is the only approval available. Conventional at 620 to 640 with 3% or 5% down prices badly enough that FHA’s permanent-MI disadvantage stops mattering. Do not let anyone sell you conventional here on the theory that the PMI cancels eventually; the rate and premium you pay meanwhile swamp the benefit.
From roughly 680 to 720 and up, conventional usually wins, and by the mid-700s decisively. Better rate, no 1.75% premium inflating the balance, modest PMI, and the PMI goes away. A 760-score buyer choosing FHA because someone called it “the first-time buyer loan” is making an expensive mistake.
The middle band is a genuine coin flip, and anyone who says otherwise is guessing. In the low-to-high 600s the answer turns on the specific PMI quote your file draws, and quotes vary between insurers and coverage levels. The only correct way to handle it is to price the file both ways. Not estimate. Not assume. Run a real FHA scenario against a real conventional one with actual pricing, actual PMI quotes and actual closing costs, then compare payment, cash to close, and mortgage insurance cost over five and ten years. That is what a broker is for, an officer at a single bank can only show you what that bank sells.
People say “conventional” as if it were one product. For a buyer with limited cash there are four distinct routes.
Freddie Mac HomeOne allows 3% down with no income limit at all. At least one borrower must be a first-time buyer and the property a one-unit primary residence. This is the program for a household that earns too much for the income-restricted options but has not saved 5%.
Freddie Mac Home Possible also allows 3% down but caps income at 80% of area median. Its real advantage is not the down payment; it is the reduced mortgage insurance coverage requirement, which makes the monthly PMI materially cheaper. Fannie Mae HomeReady is the direct counterpart, same 3%, same income cap, same reduced coverage, and which prices better on a given day is exactly the sort of thing a broker can shop.
Standard 5%-down conventional has no income cap and no first-time buyer requirement, and its lower loan-to-value means cheaper PMI and a faster path to cancellation. If you have the 5%, compare it against the 3% options rather than assuming less down is better. All four share the same structural advantage over FHA: no upfront premium, and PMI that cancels.
This part of the comparison has nothing to do with money and can still decide your loan. An FHA appraiser does two jobs: estimate value, and confirm the property meets HUD’s minimum property standards. A conventional appraiser does only the first. On newer construction that is invisible. On West Jordan’s older streets it is not.
Peeling paint on a pre-1978 home. Under the lead-based paint rules, defective paint on a home built before 1978 must be scraped and repainted before an FHA loan closes: interior, exterior, garage, fascia. It is the most common FHA condition call on older stock, and an awkward conversation with a seller who has no intention of painting a house they are leaving.
Missing handrails, on basement and deck stairs especially. Water heater strapping and relief valves, Utah is seismic country, and an unstrapped heater or a relief valve without a discharge line gets written up. Remaining roof life. An appraiser who does not believe the roof has a couple of years left will condition on repair, and on a tired roof that is often what ends the deal.
None of it is unfixable, and none appears on a conventional appraisal unless it is severe enough to affect value or safety. Two consequences follow. In a multiple-offer situation an FHA offer on an older home carries a risk premium in a listing agent’s mind, which can cost you the house even when your financing is sound. And if the math is already close, condition is a legitimate tiebreaker, a 1978 rambler with original paint and an old roof is a very different FHA proposition than a 2004 build.
Seller-paid closing costs are the most underused tool in a middle-market purchase, and the caps differ by program in a way that occasionally flips the decision.
FHA lets the seller contribute up to 6% of the sales price toward closing costs, prepaids and discount points, regardless of down payment. Conventional ties the cap to loan-to-value on a primary residence: 3% above 90% LTV, 6% between 75.01% and 90%, and 9% at 75% or below. So the 3%- and 5%-down conventional buyer, exactly the buyer this page is about, is limited to 3%. On a $500,000 purchase that is a $15,000 ceiling against $30,000 for FHA.
Most buyers never approach either number. Utah has no real estate transfer tax, recording is a flat per-document fee rather than a percentage of price, and our fees run about 25% below many competitors with no processing or junk fees. Where the cap does bite is a rate buydown. Discount points are an eligible use of seller money under both programs, and in a market where sellers will more readily write a check than cut the price, a credit spent on a permanent or temporary 2-1 buydown is worth far more than an equivalent price reduction. A $10,000 price cut on a $500,000 house barely moves the payment; $10,000 applied to points moves it every month for as long as you keep the loan.
Suppose you take the FHA loan anyway. You are not stuck with the insurance forever. There are two exits, and they do very different things.
Refinancing into a conventional loan is the exit that actually eliminates the insurance. Once you have enough equity, a conventional refinance replaces the FHA loan and its permanent premium with one that either carries no mortgage insurance at all, at 80% LTV or better, or carries PMI that will cancel on schedule. The catch: it is a full refinance: new appraisal, full documentation, new rate. If rates then are higher than the rate on your FHA loan, the insurance savings may not cover the increase. That risk is the strongest argument for taking conventional at the outset when the numbers are close: going conventional later needs the rate environment to cooperate; going conventional now does not.
The FHA streamline refinance moves an existing FHA loan into a new FHA loan with drastically reduced documentation, typically no appraisal and no income verification, subject to a net tangible benefit test and a clean payment history. What it does not do is remove your mortgage insurance: you are still in an FHA loan. You do get a partial refund of your original upfront premium if you streamline within three years. So: streamline to lower a rate; refinance conventional to lower the rate and shed the insurance.
One FHA feature worth remembering: FHA loans are assumable. A qualified buyer can take over your loan at your rate, so an FHA rate that later looks low against the market becomes a marketing asset when you sell. Conventional has no equivalent.
Utah Housing Corporation programs carry a purchase price cap, and in much of Salt Lake County that cap is the problem. In West Jordan it usually is not. The county’s maximum purchase price of $666,600 covers the range most buyers here are shopping, which makes this one of the few parts of the valley where Utah Housing is genuinely usable.
| Salt Lake County: UHC FirstHome | Limit |
|---|---|
| Income cap, 1-2 person household | $126,100 |
| Income cap, 3 or more person household | $145,000 |
| Maximum purchase price | $666,600 |
| Minimum credit score | 660 |
Utah Housing Corporation FirstHome limits as currently published. UHC updates these without advance notice, verify at application.
Three UHC programs are offered: FirstHome (660 score, first-time buyers, exceptions for single parents and veterans), the FHA/VA product (620 score, repeat buyers allowed, $165,200 statewide income cap), and Freddie Mac HFA Advantage (680 score, reduced mortgage insurance).
Assistance comes as a 30-year fixed second mortgage in one of two shapes. The traditional, amortizing second lends up to 6% of the first mortgage, capped at $27,500, at your first-mortgage rate plus one percent with a ceiling of 8%. Because it reaches 6%, it can cover a 3.5% FHA down payment and still leave several thousand dollars for closing costs. The deferred second lends up to 3.5%, same $27,500 cap, at 3.5% deferred simple interest with no monthly payment, principal and accrued interest come due at sale, refinance or maturity. The deferred version keeps your payment lower and helps you qualify; the amortizing version borrows more and helps you close.
Utah Housing currently lists HomeAgain, NoMI and Score as suspended. If a lender or an article mentioned one of those, it is out of date. Our Utah Housing page covers what is actually fundable.
For 2026 Salt Lake County uses the national baseline conforming limit of $832,750 on a one-unit property and an FHA limit of $637,100. There is no USDA eligibility anywhere in the county. A VA loan with full entitlement has no loan limit, requires nothing down, and charges no monthly mortgage insurance, only a one-time funding fee, waived for a service-connected disability rating. If you are eligible, stop reading the comparison; nothing here beats it.
What matters about those limits is what they do not say. In Salt Lake City proper, buyers above $637,100 lose FHA entirely and the decision is made for them. In West Jordan that mostly does not happen.
On taxes: Utah exempts 45% of a primary residence’s fair market value, so you are taxed on 55%, covering the dwelling plus up to one acre. Salt Lake County’s 2025 average total rate was 1.0504%, the highest of Utah’s major counties.
| Market value | Taxable value (55%) | Annual tax at 1.0504% | Monthly escrow |
|---|---|---|---|
| $450,000 | $247,500 | ≈$2,600 | ≈$217 |
| $500,000 | $275,000 | ≈$2,889 | ≈$241 |
| $600,000 | $330,000 | ≈$3,466 | ≈$289 |
Calculated on 55% of market value using the Salt Lake County 2025 average total rate published by the Utah State Tax Commission. Individual tax areas within the county vary. A specific West Jordan address can differ from the county average.
This number lands in your debt-to-income ratio, so on a marginal file the gap between the county average and the actual rate for your tax area can change an approval; we use the real rate for the address. And if the home was a rental without the primary residential exemption, the listing’s tax figure may reflect the unexempted amount, and your first-year escrow may be set off that old number.
We finance homes throughout West Jordan and along its edges: Jordan Landing, Westland, the Copperton edge, Oquirrh, Sugar Factory Road, the Gardner Village area, Ron Wood, Bingham Junction, the Highlands and Maple Hills, plus the neighborhoods off 7800 South, 9000 South, Redwood Road, Bangerter Highway and Mountain View Corridor.
The financing questions shift by area. Newer construction around Jordan Landing and the corridor developments rarely produces FHA condition calls, so the choice there is pure pricing. The older housing near Gardner Village and the established streets east of it are where pre-1978 paint, roof life and handrail conditions surface. Call 801-576-9336 or apply online. Axent Funding has brokered Utah loans since 2002, closes in three weeks on a clean file, and is licensed under NMLS 279397.
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It depends mostly on your credit score and how long you plan to own the home. Below roughly the low 600s FHA usually wins outright, because conventional rates and PMI both price badly at those scores. From about 680 up conventional usually wins, because there is no 1.75% upfront premium and the PMI cancels. Between those points it is a coin flip that turns on the PMI quote your file draws, so it must be priced both ways.
On most FHA purchase loans, no. With less than 10% down on a 30-year FHA loan, the annual premium is charged for the life of the loan. It does not drop off at 78% or 80% loan-to-value the way conventional PMI does, and appreciation does not help. With 10% or more down it runs eleven years. The only way to eliminate it is to pay off or refinance out.
Your servicer must drop it automatically at 78% loan-to-value on the original amortization schedule if you are current, on written request at 80%, and at the midpoint of the loan term regardless. You can also request early cancellation based on a new appraisal if the home has appreciated. Agency guidelines generally allow that at 75% loan-to-value after two years, or 80% after five.
FHA requires 3.5% down at a credit score of 580 or higher. Conventional goes to 3% down through first-time buyer programs such as Freddie Mac HomeOne, Home Possible and Fannie Mae HomeReady, or 5% for anyone. VA requires nothing down for eligible veterans, and Utah Housing assistance can cover most or all of the down payment, up to $27,500. USDA is not available in Salt Lake County.
It can be. FHA appraisers apply HUD minimum property standards in addition to estimating value, and the common condition calls are peeling paint on pre-1978 homes, missing stair handrails, unstrapped water heaters, and insufficient remaining roof life. Those must be corrected before closing. A conventional appraisal does not raise them unless they affect value or safety, which is one reason some listing agents treat FHA offers as riskier.
FHA allows up to 6% of the sales price toward closing costs, prepaid items and discount points. Conventional ties the cap to loan-to-value on a primary residence: 3% above 90% LTV, 6% between 75.01% and 90%, and 9% at 75% or below. Most Utah purchases never approach either cap. Where the cap matters is spending the credit on points to buy the rate down.
Yes. Salt Lake County’s FirstHome income cap is $126,100 for a one-to-two-person household and $145,000 for three or more, with a maximum purchase price of $666,600 that fits this market well. Assistance is a 30-year fixed second mortgage: up to 6% of the first mortgage, capped at $27,500, amortizing at your first-mortgage rate plus one percent; or up to 3.5%, same cap, at 3.5% deferred simple interest with no monthly payment. HomeAgain, NoMI and Score are currently listed as suspended.
Yes, by refinancing into a conventional loan once you have the equity, which is the only way to eliminate FHA mortgage insurance short of paying the loan off. It requires a full underwrite, a new appraisal and a new rate, so it only works if rates cooperate. The FHA streamline refinance is lighter, with typically no appraisal and no income documentation, but it keeps you in an FHA loan and keeps the insurance.
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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.