January, February Data Point to Strong 2015 New Home Sales

Applications for mortgages to purchase newly constructedrnhomes jumped significantly in February the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) saidrntoday.  Data from MBA’s BuilderrnApplication Survey, which is not seasonally adjusted, was up 12 percent comparedrnto January numbers. </p

“Anrnincrease in mortgage applications to builders in February over strong Januaryrnnumbers bodes well for new home purchases this year,” said Lynn Fisher, MBA’srnVice President of Research and Economics. “Applications in both January andrnFebruary were up on a year over year basis.”</p

Based on the application data, assumptionsrnregarding market coverage, and other factors MBA estimates that sales of newlyrnconstructed single-family homes are running at a seasonally adjusted annualrnrate of 487,000 units.  On an unadjustedrnbasis MBA estimates that 42,000 new homes sold in February compared to 39,000rnin January, an increase of 7.7 percent. rnOn a seasonally adjusted annual basis, however, the rate is down 8.1rnpercent from the adjusted annual projection of 530,000 units in January.  </p

Of the new home purchase loan applicationsrnreceived in February 65.4 percent were for conventional loans, 20.7 percentrnwere for FHA- and 12.7 percent for VA-backed loans.  Rural Home Service/USDA loan applicationsrncomprised 1.2 percent of the total.  Thernaverage loan size of new homes increased from $304,364 in January to $311,379rnin February.</p

MBA’s Builder Application Survey tracksrnapplication volume from mortgage subsidiaries of home builders across therncountry and using it and other data to provide an early estimate of new homernsales volumes at the national, state, and metro level. Official new home salesrnestimates are conducted by the Census Bureau on a monthly basis. In that data,rnnew home sales are recorded at contract signing, which is typically coincidentrnwith the mortgage application.

All Content Copyright © 2003 – 2009 Brown House Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.nReproduction in any form without permission of MortgageNewsDaily.com is prohibited.