Applications for new home purchases decreased 0.4% on an unadjusted basis in December compared to November, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Builder Application Survey (BAS).
By product type, conventional loans composed 70.8% of loan applications, Federal Housing Administration loans composed 15.3%, Rural Housing Service/U.S. Department of Agriculture loans composed 1.2% and Veterans Affairs loans composed 12.7%.
The average loan size of new homes increased from $306,975 in November to $311,398 in December.
Based on data from the BAS, the MBA estimates new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 409,000 units in December – an increase of 2% compared to the November pace of 401,000 units.
On an unadjusted basis, the MBA estimates that there were about 28,000 new home sales in December, unchanged from November.