New-Home Purchase Loan Requests Fall a Second Straight Month: MBA

Applications for loans to purchase newly constructed homes were down 5% in June from the month before, according to Mortgage Bankers Association data.

Requests for conventional loans accounted for nearly two-thirds of these applications, the Washington-based trade group said on Thursday. Applications for loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration made up 17% of the total, while mortgages guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs accounted for 14.6% and 1.2% of the applications filed were for Rural Housing Service loans.

The average loan size for a new home decreased $349 from the previous month to $296,078 in June, the MBA added.

The annual pace of new single-family home sales was up 3.2% from May to 386,000 housing units in June, the MBA said. These new home sales estimates are calculated from the MBA's builder application survey, which tracks loan application volume from homebuilders nationwide.

Last month, KB Home reported a profit for its fiscal second quarter as selling prices and orders increased.

The Commerce Department recently said that new-home sales increased in May 18.6% from the month before, which was the biggest one-month gain since January 1992, to a 504,000 annualized pace. New-home sale figures for June will be released on July 24.