Mortgage applications for new home purchases increased 0.3% on an unadjusted basis in April compared to March, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Builder Application Survey (BAS).
By product type, conventional loans represented 67% of loan applications; Federal Housing Administration loans represented 18.8%; Rural Housing Service/U.S. Department of Agriculture loans represented 1.4%; and Veterans Affairs loans represented 12.8%.
The average loan size for a new home was $315,670, up from $314,394 in March. According to the BAS, this is its highest level in the history of the survey.
The MBA estimates new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 487,000 units in April – a decrease of 4.5% from the March pace of 510,000 units.
On an unadjusted basis, the MBA estimates that April saw 48,000 new home sales, a decrease of 2% from the 49,000 new home sales in March.