After increasing 20% in May, applications for mortgages for new home purchases surged again in June, rising 17.9% month-over-month and 14% compared with June 2018, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Application Survey (BAS).
“Ongoing concerns about economic growth and trade policy likely kept some potential buyers out of the market despite lower mortgage rates,” says Joel Kan, associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting for the MBA, in a statement. “Our seasonally adjusted estimate of new home sales was down in June after two of the strongest months in the survey’s history dating back to 2013, but remained higher than a year ago.
“The average loan amount for new home purchase applications fell slightly to its lowest level since November 2018, as home price growth continued to slow in many markets and purchase transactions have shifted away from the higher end of the price spectrum,” Kan adds.
Sales of new single-family homes were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 646,000 units in June 2019, the MBA’s data suggest.
That’s down 11.1% compared with May.
About 58,000 new homes were sold in June, a decrease of 15.9% compared with May.