By Alex Roha | HousingWire
Mortgage applications for new homes dropped 9% in April from March, however, overall applications are still up a whopping 30.8% year over year for homebuilders, according to the latest survey report from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Amid continued competition from borrowers, the average loan size of a new home reached its highest level in the survey’s history at $377,434.
“Adjusting to seasonal effects, MBA estimates that new home sales in April rebounded from a two-month slump, increasing 8 percent to an annualized pace of 770,000 units,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting. “While still strong, this sales pace remains below the 877,000-sales pace seen in the second half of 2020.”
By loan type, conventional loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac took the lion’s share at 72.9% of loan applications, followed by just 15.8% of FHA loans, 10.3% from VA and 1% leftover for RHS/USDA loans.
