Despite dropping 6%, mortgage applications for new home purchases still came in better than expected, the Mortgage Bankers Association's Builder Application Survey data for November 2015 said.
Last month, mortgage applications for new home purchases fell by 8% relative to the previous month, partially due to TRID going into effect during the month.
MBA’s Builder Application Survey tracks application volume from mortgage subsidiaries of homebuilders across the country. This change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.
“This is a very good result considering the time of year. On a seasonally adjusted basis, we estimate that there were 524,000 new home sales in November, up 5.9% from our October estimate of 495,000, and up 31 percent from November a year ago,” said Lynn Fisher, MBA’s vice president of Research and Economics.
“The BAS index also reached its highest November reading since the index began in 2012,” added Fisher.
Broken up by product type, conventional loans composed 68.4% of loan applications, FHA loans composed 18.1%, RHS/USDA loans composed 0.9% and VA loans composed 12.6%.
Additionally, the average loan size of new homes decreased from $320,881 in October to $320,854 in November.
The MBA estimates new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 524,000 units in November 2015. The seasonally adjusted estimate for November is an increase of 5.9% from the October pace of 495,000 units.
