Mortgage applications for new home purchases decreased by 11% in December compared to November, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Builder Application Survey (BAS), which tracks application volume from mortgage subsidiaries of home builders across the country.
The 11% decrease does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.
By product type, conventional loans composed 63% of loan applications for new homes, Federal Housing Administration loans composed 19.2%, Rural Housing Service/U.S. Department of Agriculture loans composed 0.9% and Veterans Affairs loans composed 16.9%.
The average loan size for new homes increased from $295,523 in November to $300,444 in December.
Utilizing information from the BAS, as well as assumptions regarding market coverage and other factors, MBA estimates that sales of new single-family homes were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 402,000 in December.
On an unadjusted basis, about 28,000 new homes sold in December.
The MBA forecasts that new home sales reached 445,000 for the year, which is in line with the MBA's Mortgage Finance Forecast, which estimates that about 449,000 new homes were sold in 2013.
The latest U.S. Census Bureau data on new home sales will be released on Jan. 27.
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