US New-Home Purchase Mortgage Applications Increase in March

On Friday, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported that its March Builder Application Survey (BAS) reveals that mortgage applications for new-home purchases increased 14% in March. Year-over-year, mortgage applications increased 5.5%. This does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.

MBA estimates new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 629,000 units in March, a decrease of 0.8% from the February pace of 634,000 units.

On an unadjusted basis, MBA estimates that there were 61,000 new-home sales in March, a 7% increase from 57,000 in February.

By product type, conventional loans composed 49.0% of loan applications, FHA loans composed 37.0%, RHS/USDA loans composed 0.9%, and VA loans composed 13%. The average loan size for new homes decreased from $397,516 in February to $381,921 in March.

Commenting on the report, MBA Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist Joel Kan said:

“Applications for new home purchases increased in March, consistent with typical seasonal patterns and supported by mortgage rates that had been drifting lower. The growing inventory of newly built, move-in ready homes supported homebuyer interest over the month, pushing the index higher than last year’s levels. Our estimate of seasonally adjusted new home sales saw a slight decline in March but were stronger than last year’s pace of sales.”