Tag Archives: Mortgage Bankers Association

More home sellers are offering concessions to draw in buyers, in part fueling purchase activity, which jumped nearly 40% in October compared to a year ago. Read the full breakdown of data in the MBA’s latest Builder Application Survey.

As record-high mortgage rates continue to hinder potential homebuyers nationwide, new home purchase activity weakened in September, according to the MBA's Builder Application Survey.

“In recent years, housing inventory constraints and home-price appreciation have resulted in rising average loan balances for single-family homeownership. Yet, financing lower balance loans is an essential way for the mortgage industry to facilitate access to affordable, lower-valued homes,” said MBA’s VP of Industry Analysis Marina Walsh, CMB.

Mortgage application payments increased slightly in August to $2,170, according to MBA's Purchase Applications Payment Index, while overall homebuyer affordability declined, as homebuyers’ budgets continue to be impacted by high home prices and mortgage rates above 7%.

Purchase demand remained strong in August for newly constructed homes, increasing 20.6% compared to a year ago, according to the MBA Builder Application Survey, while the average loan size for new homes increased to $398,092.

“Mortgage applications decreased for the seventh time in eight weeks, reaching the lowest level since 1996,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s VP and Deputy Chief Economist. “Last week’s decline was driven by a 5% drop in refinance applications, to the weakest reading since January 2023.”

The MBA's Mortgage Credit Availability Index revealed that August's share of mortgage credit availability was on the upswing after a decrease in July, which resulted in the lowest level of credit availability recorded since 2013.

“Prospective homebuyers continued to face challenging conditions in July, with elevated and volatile mortgage rates and low housing inventory serving as a formidable one-two punch that suppressed mortgage applications and sales activity,” said Edward Seiler, MBA’s Associate VP, Housing Economics, and Executive Director, Research Institute for Housing America.

“Applications for purchase loans on newly constructed homes remained strong in July, up 36% annually, as new homes continued to account for a growing share of homes available for sale,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s VP and Deputy Chief Economist.

“Mortgage credit availability declined to its lowest level since 2013, as lenders pulled back on underutilized loan programs and as liquidity concerns remain for some jumbo lenders,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s VP and Deputy Chief Economist. "Declining origination volumes have led to lower profitability for many lenders, resulting in narrower loan product offerings to reduce operational costs.