When your company has to help you buy a house because your salary isn't enough.

A growing number of employers, like BNY, are starting to offer down-payment assistance programs as a workplace perk, providing employees like Phil Bohn with up to $6,500 to help cover the steep costs of buying a home. This trend highlights a new frontier in corporate benefits aimed at attracting and retaining talent.

The move speaks volumes about the current housing market, where even people with stable jobs struggle to save for a down payment. It's a cynical reflection of wage stagnation meeting soaring housing costs, with companies stepping in to patch a problem their own compensation structures often helped create. The ultimate takeaway: when your salary can't cover a basic life milestone, your employer becomes your mortgage broker.