[rconti]

Jumbo loans have no such requirement in the US (anything over 650ish-thousand dollars).

Instead of Private Mortgage Insurance, the banks (typically?) require that you have a certain amount of cash in the bank as reserves. x% cash, y% investments discounted at 30%, z% retirement discounted at 40%, and so on. More at 10% than at 20%. And so on. But I don't think these are required; there's no reason a bank couldn't just decide to let you go without. And while they require pretty extensive documentation, you can still game the system.

When we bought (2015), interest rates for jumbo loans were LOWER than confirming loans, and no PMI requirement. win/win.