The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Applications Survey (BAS), released last week, revealed that mortgage applications for new home purchases in July of this year increased 5.1 percent in comparison to the same time frame in 2016.
“The year over year increase in applications to homebuilders for new home purchase mortgages slowed down somewhat in July, after relatively strong showings in May and June,” Lynn Fisher, MBA’s vice president of Research and Economics, said. “Nonetheless, the pattern of applications over the last three months suggests that housing starts will fall off less than expected during late summer and early fall as demand spills over from the low-inventory existing home market into the market for new homes. Year to date, through July, applications for new homes remain up by more than 7 percent compared to the same period last year.”
The survey noted the average loan size of new homes increased from $327,833 in June to $329,483 in July, as the MBA estimated new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 562,000 units in July 2017, based on data from the BAS.
The BAS tracks application volume from mortgage subsidiaries of home builders across the country, allowing the MBA to provide an early estimate of new home sales volumes at the national, state and metro level.