Georgia concentrates nearly all of its home buyer help under one brand: Georgia Dream, run by the Department of Community Affairs. It has two parts that travel together — a 30-year fixed-rate first mortgage at a state-set rate, and down payment assistance layered on top. You cannot take the assistance without the state's first mortgage, and you get both through a participating lender, not from the state directly.

The numbers below are current as of mid-2026, but limits and amounts change — Georgia raised them substantially in 2024 — so treat dca.georgia.gov as the final word before you plan around any figure here.

Who Qualifies

There are three doors into the core program, and you only need one: you are a first-time buyer, you have not owned a primary residence in the past three years, or you are buying in a targeted area — a county or census tract the state designates as economically distressed, where the first-time rule is waived.

Past that door, the core requirements as of 2026:

  • Credit: a minimum middle score of 640.
  • Income (total household, tiered by area): up to $137,555 for 1–2 people / $158,188 for 3+ in the Atlanta metro; $118,152 / $135,875 in the Athens area; $101,700 / $116,955 in the rest of the state.
  • Purchase price: up to $625,000 in the Atlanta metro, $525,000 around Athens, $475,000 elsewhere.
  • Your own money: at least $1,000 into the purchase, which can be documented gift funds.
  • Liquid assets: no more than $20,000 or 20% of the sales price (whichever is greater) at closing — retirement accounts don't count, but stocks and large gifts do. The program is means-tested on savings, not just income.
  • Education: a homebuyer course from a HUD-approved counselor, in a workshop, one-on-one, or online — typically $50–$100.

What You Actually Get

Down payment assistance comes in three tiers, each defined as the lesser of a dollar cap and a percentage of the purchase price:

  • Standard: $10,000 or 5% of the price, whichever is less.
  • PEN: $12,500 or 6% — for “Protectors, Educators & Nurses”, which in practice covers public safety, education, and healthcare workers and their industries, plus active military.
  • CHOICE: $12,500 or 6% — for households that include a family member living with a disability.

The lesser-of rule bites at the affordable end of the market: on a $150,000 home the standard tier pays 5% — $7,500 — not the $10,000 headline figure. From $200,000 up, the dollar cap is what binds.

Common mistake: assuming the assistance is forgiven. Georgia Dream's DPA is a 0% deferred loan, repaid in full when you sell, refinance, or move out. It costs nothing while you stay — no interest, no monthly payment — but it is a lien on the home, and it comes off your sale proceeds someday. Plan your eventual equity around it.

The Variants Worth Knowing

Since 2024 the state has added three spin-offs for buyers the core program excludes. Peach Plus serves FHA and VA borrowers who earn too much for core Georgia Dream — income limits rise to roughly $206,000–$237,000 in the Atlanta metro and prices to $725,000, in exchange for a market interest rate and slightly leaner assistance. Peach Select VA offers veterans a below-market rate on a VA loan with no first-time requirement, though without down payment assistance. Peach Advantage, the newest, pairs conventional loans with assistance of 2–5% of the loan amount for incomes up to 150% of area median. All three drop the first-time-buyer test.

The Atlanta Layer

If you are buying inside the city of Atlanta, a second layer of local programs can stack on meaningfully larger sums — and unlike Georgia Dream, several are genuinely forgivable. Invest Atlanta's ATL HomeNOW offers up to $20,000, forgiven after ten years of occupancy. Atlanta Housing runs assistance up to $20,000 — $25,000 for public safety, healthcare, education, and military buyers — for incomes under 80% of area median. Gwinnett County's Homestretch program offers up to $10,000 that converts to no repayment after five years' occupancy. Each has its own income caps, price caps, and education requirements, and funding comes and goes — verify directly with each program before counting on it.

How It Fits Together

Georgia Dream's first mortgage rides on a standard federal loan — FHA, VA, USDA, or conventional — so everything in the federal programs guide about how those loans price and insure still applies; the state supplies the rate and the down payment help. Expect roughly 30–60 days from application to closing, through a DCA-participating lender.

Before you lean on the maximum the program allows, check what the payment actually looks like: the Georgia mortgage calculator has the state's property tax and insurance figures pre-loaded, so you can see the full monthly cost — not just principal and interest — for any price and rate you are considering.