The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Applications Survey (BAS) data for December 2016 shows mortgage applications for new-home purchases increased 2 percent from December 2015. Compared with November 2016, applications decreased by 14 percent. This change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.
“Mortgage applications for new single family homes increased on a year-over-year basis in every month of 2016, with December displaying the thinnest margin over 2015,” MBA Vice President of Research and Economics Lynn Fisher said in a press release. “However, growth in applications set a high benchmark in December 2015, and it is not yet clear if the recent rise in interest rates is having an impact on applications for new homes. Looking forward to 2017, MBA continues to forecast more than 10 percent growth in single family housing starts.”
By product type, conventional loans comprised 67.5 percent of loan applications, FHA loans composed 18.5 percent, RHS/USDA loans comprised 0.9 percent and VA loans comprised 13.1 percent. The average loan size of new homes increased from $329,389 in November to $331,354 in December.
The MBA estimates new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 478,000 units in December 2016, based on data from the BAS.
The seasonally adjusted estimate for December is a decrease of 18.7 percent from the November pace of 588,000 units. On an unadjusted basis, the MBA estimates that there were 35,000 new-home sales in December 2016, a decrease from 41,000 in November.