The number of mortgage applications for new home purchases increased from a year ago in July, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Builder Applications Survey.
Application volume rose 2.4% from July 2015, which was the slowest year-over-year pace thus far in 2016, according to Lynn Fisher, the MBA's vice president of research and economics. When compared with June 2016 though, applications dropped 8% with adjustments for seasonality.
The MBA estimated that new single-family home sales were occurring at a seasonally adjusted rate of 540,000 units in July based on Builder Applications Survey data, which is an increase of 1.9% from June's seasonally adjusted figure.
The product mix in June featured a 68.5% share of conventional loans as part of total loan applications. FHA loans made up 17.2% of applications, and VA and USDA loans composed 13.6% and 0.7% of applications, respectively. The average loan size fell by just over $300 from June to $325,843 in July.
