[1]Mortgage applications for new home purchases fell in August, as the homebuying season comes to a close, according to Builder Application Survey [2] (BAS) data for August 2015 from the Mortgage Bankers Association [3] (MBA) released Thursday.
New home mortgage applications shows mortgage applications dropped 6 percent from July, not including any typical seasonal pattern adjustments.
"As the summer winds down, mortgage applications for new homes saw a seasonally-driven decrease in August," said Lynn Fisher, MBA's VP of Research and Economics. "However, applications for new homes were still up 19 percent relative to the same month last year, which is consistent with what we've seen so far in 2015."
Of all the new home applications, conventional loans made up 68.5 percent of loan applications, FHA loans composed 19.0 percent, RHS/USDA loans made up 0.9 percent, and VA loans composed 11.6 percent, the MBA data showed.
MBA also noted that new home average loan size increased from $316,995 in July to $317,035 in August.
The association forecasts that new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 524,000 units in August 2015, based on data from the Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS). The estimate is 1.9 percent lower than the July pace of 534,000.
The MBA estimates, on an unadjusted basis, that there were 41,000 new home sales in August 2015, 6.8 percent lower from 44,000 new home sales in July.
The company also reported this week that mortgage applications declined 6.2 percent from one week earlier, according to data from their Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey. [4]
Loan application volume dropped 6.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending September 4, 2015. The index also fell 7 percent on an unadjusted basis from the previous week, the MBA said.
The survey data showed that the refinance index fell 10 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased 1 percent from one week earlier, while the unadjusted purchase index decreased 3 percent compared with the previous week and was 41 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
MBA Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey Highlights:
- The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 56.9 percent of total applications from 58.7 percent the previous week.
- The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 6.9 percent of total applications.
- The FHA share of total applications increased to 13.4 percent from 12.7 percent the week prior. The VA share of total applications increased to 10.8 percent from 9.8 percent the week prior. The USDA share of total applications increased to 0.8 percent from 0.7 percent the week prior.
Click here [2] to view the MBA’s Builder Application Survey.
Click here [4] to view the MBA’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey