New Home Mortgage Applications Down 14% in August

Mortgage applications to purchase newly built homes declined 14% on an unadjusted basis in August compared with July, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Rising interest rates has put a damper on overall mortgage application activity in recent weeks, according to MBA’s previously released Market Composite Index survey.

By product type, conventional loans composed 67.8% of loan applications, Federal Housing Administration-insured loans composed 17.3%, Veterans Affairs 13.9% and Rural Housing Services/U.S. Department of Agriculture 1%. The average loan size decreased from $288,382 in July to $284,392 in August.

The MBA also said it estimates that sales of new single-family homes were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 424,000 in August. On an unadjusted basis, it estimates that there were 35,000 new home sales in August.