According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Application Survey (BAS) data for February 2017, mortgage applications for new home purchases were up 16 percent in February from the previous month and increased 2.2 percent compared to February 2016.
“The Builder Application Index posted a modest annual gain in February 2017,” Lynn Fisher, MBA’s vice president of research and economics, said. “The bar was high as last February was a particularly strong month for applications, as was March 2016. The surprisingly strong employment numbers for the beginning of 2017 suggest that demand for new homes should continue to grow this year.”
Conventional loans made up 66.5 percent of loan applications, while FHA loans composed 18.6 percent, RHS/USDA loans accounted for 1.3 percent and VA loans composed 13.6 percent. The average loan size of new homes increased from $329,806 in January to $330,208 in February.
“Additionally, based on the current reading, we expect seasonally adjusted new home sales to be up by about 8 percent in February compared to a year ago,” Fisher said.
New single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 586,000 units in February 2017, which is a 4.3 percent increase over January, based on data BAS data. MBA estimates that there were 51,000 new home sales in February 2017, an increase of 15.9 percent from 44,000 new home sales in January.