Can You Use Your IRA To Buy a House?

Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) are supposed to be long-term investments. Because they're intended to help you save for retirement, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) doesn't want you to withdraw any funds from them before you turn 59½. And to enforce that, you'll normally owe a 10% penalty on the amount you withdraw early, along with income taxes.

Still, every rule has its exceptions. It's possible to use funds from an individual retirement account, penalty-free, to buy a house, even if you aren’t six months away from your 60th birthday. Keep in mind that the rules vary based on the type of IRA. Here are your options.

Who Qualifies for the IRA Exemption?

You must be a first-time homebuyer if you want to use money in your IRA to buy a house. But, the IRS defines that status rather loosely. You are considered a first-timer if you (and your spouse, if you have one) haven't owned a home at any point during the past two years.

So even if you owned a principal residence at some point in the past (say, five years ago), you may meet the first-time-buyer requirement. The keyword, by the way, is principal. If you've owned a vacation home or taken part in a timeshare during the past two years, the exemption can still apply.

You don’t have to be the one shopping around. You can tap into your IRA and qualify for the exemption if the money is to help an eligible child, grandchild, or parent buy a home. And that's even if you're a homeowner now.

The Traditional IRA Exemption

If you qualify as a first-time homebuyer, you can withdraw up to $10,000 from your traditional IRA and use the money to buy, build, or rebuild a home.

Even though you'll avoid the 10% early withdrawal penalty on the money, you'll still owe income tax on any amount you (and your spouse) withdraw. Also, that $10,000 is a lifetime limit. You won't get to use the first-time homebuyer provision again to buy a home, even if you use a different IRA.

The Roth IRA Exemption

The rules are different for Roth IRAs. You can withdraw a sum equal to the contributions you’ve made to your Roth IRA tax- and penalty-free at any time, for any reason. This is because you’ve already paid taxes on the contributions.

When you've exhausted your contributions, you can withdraw up to $10,000 of the account’s earnings or money converted from another account without paying a 10% penalty for a first-time home purchase.

One factor here is how long you’ve had the account. If it's been fewer than five years since you first contributed to a Roth IRA, you'll owe income tax on the earnings. This rule, though, doesn't apply to any converted funds. If you’ve had the Roth IRA for at least five years, the withdrawn earnings are both tax- and penalty-free as long as you use them to buy, build, or rebuild a home.

Self-Directed IRAs

Another option is to open (or convert your existing IRA into) a self-directed IRA (SDIRA). These are specialized IRAs that give you complete control over the investments in the account.

SDIRAs allow you to invest in a wider variety of investments than standard IRAs—everything from limited liability companies (LLCs) and franchises to precious metals and real estate. And don't forget, the term real estate doesn’t refer only to houses. You can invest in vacant lots, parking lots, mobile homes, apartments, multifamily buildings, and boat slips.

"There are many ways you can use your self-directed IRA to purchase real estate inside your IRA," says Kirk Chisholm, wealth manager at Innovative Advisory Group. "You could buy a rental property, use your IRA as a bank, and loan money to someone backed by real estate (i.e., a mortgage). You can purchase tax liens, buy farmland, and more. As long as you are investing in real estate [that's] not for personal use, you can use your IRA to make that purchase."

The SDIRA option works mainly for an investment property, such as a house or an apartment you want to rent out for income. All the money that goes into or comes out of the property has to come from or go back into the SDIRA. But when you turn 59½, you can start withdrawing assets from your SDIRA. You can then live in the home because it will have become your personal property after the distribution.

Is Using an IRA to Buy a Home a Good Idea?

Just because you can withdraw funds from your IRA for a home purchase, that doesn't mean it's a good idea.

Unless you specifically opened the IRA to set money aside for a home purchase, you should consider other funding options. If you wipe out your initial investments today, it can set back your retirement savings by many years.

There's only so much you can save in an IRA each year. For the 2023 tax year, that's $6,500, or $7,500 if you're 50 or older. These figures increase to $7,000 and $8,000 if you're 50 or over in 2024. You can't repay the funds you take from your IRA. When you withdraw money, it's gone. And you lose out on years of compounding. If you have other options to help you come up with the down payment, consider them first.

Tap Your 401(k) Instead

If you have an employer-sponsored 401(k) plan, you might think about taking a loan from that account instead of withdrawing money from your IRA. In general, you can borrow up to 50% of your 401(k) balance—up to a maximum of $50,000—for any reason without incurring taxes or penalties.

You’ll pay interest on the loan, typically the prime rate plus one or two percentage points, which will go back into your 401(k) account. In most cases, you have to repay the loan within five years. But if you're using the money for a house, the repayment schedule may be extended to as many as 15 years.

"You will have to include the payments in your monthly budget," says Peter J. Creedon, a certified financial planner and CEO of Crystal Brook Advisors. "Also, the interest you are charged for the 401(k) loan may not be tax deductible (check with your tax advisor) and will probably be higher than current mortgage rates."

In most cases, you repay the loan through automatic payroll deductions. This sounds easy enough, but it’s important to understand what happens if you miss payments. If it’s been longer than 90 days since you’ve made a payment, the remaining balance will be considered a distribution and will be taxed as income. And if you’re under the age of 59½, you’ll also owe a 10% penalty.

Another caveat is that if you leave your job (or are let go), you’ll have to repay the entire loan balance. Otherwise, the balance will be treated as a distribution and, unless you roll over the unpaid balance to a new eligible plan, you will be taxed. You will also owe the 10% early withdrawal penalty—unless you're age 55 or older when you leave your job.

The IRA Rollover

Instead of withdrawing the money from your IRA, borrow it. Technically, you can't take a loan from a traditional or Roth IRA, but you can access money for a 60-day period through what's called a tax-free rollover as long as you put the money back into the IRA (whether the one you made the withdrawal from or another one) within 60 days. If you don't, penalties and income taxes, including state taxes, are imposed. This is mainly a short-term solution to a specific problem.

"Some first-time homebuyers may want to have a substantial down payment to avoid [having to take out] private mortgage insurance," says Marguerita M. Cheng, a CFP and CEO of Blue Ocean Global Wealth. The tax-free rollover might be "the most efficient way to access funds for the down payment," qualify for better financing and thus clinch the home purchase.

Plan Ahead

In terms of timing, if you want to take advantage of the IRA first-time homebuyer's provision, plan ahead. Any IRA funds distributed to you must be used within 120 days of your receiving them.

The money can’t be used to prepay an existing mortgage or on general furnishings. Instead, it has to be used to acquire the property. And the property is considered acquired on the date you sign the contract to purchase it, not the date escrow actually closes.

The Bottom Line

If you qualify as a first-time homebuyer, you can withdraw up to $10,000 from your traditional IRA and use the money to buy, build, or rebuild a home. With a Roth IRA, you can withdraw your contributions tax- and penalty-free at any time, for any reason.

This doesn't mean using your IRA to buy a home is a good idea, though. By withdrawing money from your IRA you will lose out on years of compound interest, and the contribution limits for IRAs make it difficult to rebuild these accounts. If you need to tap an IRA to fund your home purchase because you have no other options, reconsider the timing of your home purchase. It probably makes better financial sense to wait until you’ve saved the down payment while leaving your retirement savings intact.