Wells Fargo to offer mortgage incentives on 3D printed homes with Icon

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In the race to build housing more efficiently and affordably, 3D printing is becoming increasingly viable and popular. Financing for the homes, however, is still a significant hurdle. That’s about to change.

Wells Fargo, one of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders, in conjunction with Icon, the biggest player in the 3D construction space, is announcing that it will write mortgages on homes built with Icon technology and also offer an incentive to buyers. Wells Fargo will provide a 50 basis point lender credit to buyers of Icon homes using its mortgages. 

Icon has been working with the Wells Fargo Foundation, its philanthropy arm, for several years on 3D printed communities for people without housing. Now Wells Fargo will be Icon’s preferred lender for 3D printed homes up for sale. 

“We think the technology that Icon has built has the potential to lower construction costs and to speed up homebuilding at a time when we are seeing broader challenges in housing affordability and access to homeownership,” said Serhat Oztop, CEO of home lending at Wells Fargo. “Through this partnership Wells Fargo is bridging the gap between this new technology and access to homeownership.”

Historically, 3D printed homes had difficulty getting traditional mortgage financing. Lenders had concerns over the viability of the technology, the potential value appreciation of the homes, and the ability to both sell and insure the loans. At Icon’s new Lennar community completed in Texas last year, Lennar’s own mortgage arm did all the financing. 

“Even though our testing and our results are all in the books, having one of the big banking players make such a strong and pointed announcement that, ‘We like these houses, we’re excited about these houses, in fact, we’re going to give preferential treatment to these houses,’ helps people believe and understand that this technology, and the houses it produces are ready for primetime,” said Jason Ballard, founder and CEO of Icon.

There had been concern that these houses would not appreciate at the same rate as traditional homes, but that appears to be fading. The first Lennar-Icon 3D printed community sold quickly, and another, larger one is now in the works. 

“We don’t have any reason to believe that the long-term value for these homes will be any different from homes that are built based on traditional construction technologies,” said Oztop.