The number of mortgage applications for new home purchases increased in October, along with the average loan size, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Loan applications for new home purchases rose year over year by 8%, but dropped 2% from September, the MBA reported based on its Builder Application Survey. Those figures are not adjusted for seasonal patterns.
The average size of a new home purchase loan also increased from $326,998 in September to $329,634 in October. And new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 547,000 units, the MBA estimated, which is a 7.8% decline from the September pace of 593,000 units.
By share, the percentage of new home applications that are for conventional loans grew to 67.9%, compared with 67.1% in 2015. Year over year, new home purchase applications for Veterans Administration-guaranteed loans rose to 13% from 12.5%.
In September, new home purchase applications for Federal Housing Administration-insured loans was 18.3% and for U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Housing Service mortgages it was 0.7%
