Mortgage applications for new home purchases increased by 12.2% in November from the same period a year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Builder Applications Survey. On a month-over-month basis, new home mortgage applications declined by 6% from October.
In November, new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 663,000 units, up 6% from the October pace of 659,000 units.
"New home sales continued to recover in November from the impact of hurricanes, up just a bit on a seasonally adjusted basis over the month, and nearly 13% higher than a year ago, according to our projections from monthly application activity," said Lynn Fisher, MBA vice president of research and economics, in a press release.
"Looking ahead to 2018,
There were approximately 47,000 new home sales in November, according to MBA estimates, marking an 11.3% monthly decline from the 53,000 new home sales in October.
Based on product type, 71.4% of loan applications for new homes were conventional, while Federal Housing Administration loans comprised 15.2% of applications. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs loans made up 12.3% of the applications, while Rural Housing Service/United States Department of Agriculture loans composed 1.1% of applications.
The MBA Builder Application Survey tracks application volume from mortgage subsidiaries of homebuilders nationwide, according to the organization. The data, factoring in information from other sources and assumptions regarding market coverage, provides estimates of new home sales.
