Mortgage applications for new home purchases in July 2021 decreased 27.4% from the same month last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Builder Application Survey.
Compared to June 2021, applications decreased by 4%, the survey found. The MBA noted that the change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.
"Mortgage applications for new home purchases declined in July — as is typical most summers, when home sales start to moderate — but did come in at the second-strongest July reading since the inception of MBA's survey in 2012,” said Joel Kan, MBA's associate vice president of economic & industry forecasting. “Furthermore, the average loan size again increased to a … record of $402,440.”
Kan said homebuilders still face "elevated building costs and accelerating home-price growth from the continued imbalance between supply and demand."
He noted that, after adjusting for seasonal patterns, the MBA’s estimate of annualized new home sales showed a jump of more than 10 percent from June.
Kan added that the housing market is “still extremely competitive, and prospective buyers have increasingly turned to newly built homes because for-sale inventories remain so low."
MBA estimated that new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 779,000 units in July 2021, based on data from the survey. The new home sales estimate is derived using mortgage application information from the survey, as well as assumptions regarding market coverage and other factors.
The seasonally adjusted estimate for July is an increase of 10.7% from the June pace of 704,000 units. On an unadjusted basis, MBA estimated that there were 64,000 new home sales in July 2021, a 3% decrease from 66,000 new home sales in June.
By product type, conventional loans composed nearly 74% of loan applications; FHA loans composed 14.6%, RHS/USDA loans composed 0.8%, and VA loans composed 10.8%. The average loan size of new homes increased to $402,440 in July, from $392,370 in June.
MBA's Builder Application Survey tracks application volume from mortgage subsidiaries of home builders across the country. Utilizing this data and data from other sources, MBA provides an early estimate of new home sales volumes at the national, state, and metro level. The data also provides information about the types of loans used by new home buyers.
Official new home sales estimates are conducted monthly by the Census Bureau. In that data, new home sales are recorded at contract signing, which typically is coincident with the mortgage application.
For additional information on MBA's Builder Application Survey, click here.
