Mixed Results on July Home Purchase Data

Mortgage applications for new home purchases in July were up 5.1 percent year-over-year but down 12 percent from the previous month, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Builder Applications Survey data.

 

The MBA estimated new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 562,000 units in July, down 10.5 percent from the 628,000 units sold in June. On an unadjusted basis, the MBA estimated that there were 49,000 new home sales in July 2017, a decrease of 10.9 percent from 55,000 new home sales in June. However, the average loan size of new homes increased from $327,833 in June to $329,483 in July.

 

“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,” said Lynn Fisher, MBA’s vice president of research and economics. “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 seven percent compared to the same period last year.”