New Home Purchase Mortgage Applications Up in August

Sep 12, 2017

Mortgage applications for new home purchases in August rose by seven percent from July and were up 6.8 percent compared to August 2016, according to the latest Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Application Survey.

The average loan size of new homes increased from $329,483 in July to $334,940 in August, a new peak in the survey’s history. with conventional loans accounting for 71.9 percent of applications. The MBA estimated new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 655,000 units in August, up 16.5 percent from the July pace of 562,000 units. On an unadjusted basis, the MBA estimates that there were 52,000 new home sales in August, an increase of 6.1 percent from 49,000 new home sales in July.

However, Lynn Fisher, MBA’s Vice President of Research and Economics, noted that recent meteorological events will have an impact on the market. “More than one-third of applications for new homes in our August survey came from Florida and Texas,” she said. “It is unclear what impact hurricanes Harvey and Irma will have on housing starts in the region in coming months, but it is likely that recent new home sales will be delayed in breaking ground.”

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Phil Hall

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Sep 12, 2017

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