Applications for mortgages for new home purchases increased 8.9% in December compared with November but were down 3% compared with December 2023, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Application Survey (BAS).
Applications for conventional loans composed 60.1% of loan applications for new homes, while FHA loans composed 29.4%, RHS/USDA loans 0.5%, and VA loans 9.9%.
The average loan size for a new home decreased to $400,930 in December, down from $402,873 in November.
“Applications for newly built homes increased 9 percent compared to a year ago in December, while the FHA share of applications reached its second highest level in the survey’s history at 29 percent,” says Joel Kan, vice president and deputy chief economist for the MBA, in a statement. “First-time homebuyers remained active in the new home segment, as existing inventory for starter homes remains tight. The monthly decrease in applications was consistent with typical seasonal patterns. MBA’s estimate of seasonally adjusted new home sales fell in December but remained slightly above last year’s sales pace.”
The MBA estimates new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 601,000 units in December. That’s a decrease of 15.7% from the November pace of 713,000 units.
On an unadjusted basis, the MBA estimates that there were 46,000 new home sales in December, a decrease of 6.1% from 49,000 new home sales in November.
Photo: Annika Wischnewsky
