This also means that you the likelihood of ending up with insurmountable personal debt in case of a default on the mortgage is a lot smaller. In some cases the

This also means that you the likelihood of ending up with insurmountable personal debt in case of a default on the mortgage is a lot smaller. In some cases the down payment can be a bank loan at significantly higher rates. I did this for my house and the rate for the down payment loan was something like 8% while mortgage was 2%. I forget what percentage of the total was a bank loan but it was around 10-15%. There are not the same conditions on the bank loan, though. E.g. a bank loan can in theory be called in with a months notice, while this is not the case for the bond based mortgage.