First-time home buyer programs in Maine: MaineHousing

What MaineHousing offers

MaineHousing says its mortgages carry low fixed rates, with no-point and low-point options, and that some options need little or no down payment. You apply through a MaineHousing-approved lender, not with the agency directly. MaineHousing lists more than 40 First Home Lenders.

Source: MaineHousing program pages, read October 13, 2026.

Other conditions

• Credit score: a minimum of 640. MaineHousing says you should generally plan to use no more than 30% to 33% of your income for the monthly mortgage payment.
• Education: Advantage buyers must take a hoMEworks-approved homebuyer class before closing. First Generation buyers must also take an approved financial literacy class.
• Your own money: Advantage and First Generation require a minimum borrower contribution of 1% of the loan. The cost of the homebuyer class counts toward it.
• Property types: new and existing single-family homes, owner-occupied 2 to 4 unit buildings, condominiums, and permanently attached mobile homes built in the last 20 years.
• Unemployment protection: under Maine HOPE, MaineHousing may advance up to four mortgage payments, including taxes and insurance, to a borrower in good standing who becomes unemployed. The amount becomes a junior lien with no interest and no monthly payments, repaid when you sell, pay off the loan or stop living there.
• Repairs: the Purchase Plus Improvement option lets you add $500 to $35,000 of repairs to the loan, if price plus repairs stays under the purchase price limit.

Rates as of October 1, 2026

Source: MaineHousing rate sheet effective October 1, 2026. Rates change; check the current sheet.

A worked example

These are illustrations, not offers. On a $300,000 loan over 30 years, principal and interest (before taxes and insurance) would be about $1,789 a month at 5.950%, $1,694 at 5.450% and $1,601 at 4.950%. The First Generation rate would save about $188 a month against the First Home rate. A 1% borrower contribution on that loan is $3,000.

Income and price limits in Portland

MaineHousing sets limits by area. The City of Portland is in the Portland HMFA, together with 18 other listed Cumberland County towns and four York County towns.

Source: MaineHousing, Homebuyer Income & Purchase Price Limits. The price table on that page carries the effective date June 1, 2025.

For comparison, the city’s 2024 median home value is $555,100 (see home prices in Maine and Portland). The limit is a ceiling on what you may pay, not a measure of what you can afford. Outside the Portland area, MaineHousing lists income limits as low as $105,000 (1 to 2 people) in “all other areas”.

MaineHousing also says it is running a private mortgage insurance pilot with Arch MI for one-unit homes and approved condominiums in Portland, South Portland, Westbrook, Auburn, Lewiston and Bangor only. Ask a lender whether it is still open.

Programs in Portland

We found no city-run down payment program for Portland, Maine. The City of Portland’s Housing Development page lists the HOME Program, the Housing Trust Fund, Affordable Housing Tax Increment Financing and city-owned and tax-acquired property as its funding tools for affordable housing projects; the pages behind those headings did not open for us, so we cannot describe any buyer benefit. Ask the city’s housing staff what is open today. See our page on buying a home in Portland.

How to apply

1. Pick a MaineHousing-approved First Home Lender and get pre-qualified.
2. Check the income and purchase price limits for your county.
3. Take the required homebuyer education class (hoMEworks) if you want Advantage or First Generation help.
4. Your lender submits the loan to MaineHousing. Questions go to the MaineHousing Homeownership Department at (207) 626-4663.

Budget for the rest of the costs too: see closing costs in Maine, property tax in Maine and our guides to FHA loans and private mortgage insurance.