Mortgage Applications for New Home Purchases Increased Month-Over-Month and Year-Over- Year in May

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is reporting that data from its May Builder Application Survey (BAS) reveals mortgage applications for new home purchases increased 8.0% month-over-month and were up 16.6% year-over-year. This change does not include any adjustments for typical seasonal patterns.

According to the MBA, the seasonally adjusted estimate for May increased 16.3% from April’s pace of 649,000 units. On an unadjusted basis, the MBA estimates that there were 64,000 new home sales in May, an increase of 10.3% from 58,000 new home sales reported in April.

Adding additional background and analysis to the report, MBA’s Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist Joel Kan said:

“Purchase activity for newly built homes was strong in May, with builders continuing to bring homes to the market and buyers keen to act on available units. Applications for purchase loans were up on a monthly basis and increased annually for the fourth consecutive month. Our estimate of new home sales also jumped in May, up 16 percent to the fastest pace of new home sales in 15 months.

The new home sales segment continues to gather momentum, growing at a pace of 5 percent compared to a year ago, while existing-home sales in recent months continue to experience annual declines of more than 20 percent on a non-seasonally adjusted basis. These results were also broadly in line with the Census data showing an uptick in residential housing starts and permitting in recent months.”