Mortgage apps up for new homes

Mortgage applications for new home purchases were up in October.

Mortgage applications for new home purchases were up in October, according to a survey released Thursday.

Applications were up 11% from September, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Builder Application Survey. That figure doesn’t include adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.

Conventional loans composed 67.5% of applications, according to the MBA. FHA loans made up 17.8%, while VA loans were 13.8% and USDA loans were 0.9%. The average loan size for new homes was $294,480, up from $289,650 in October.

The survey estimated that sales of new single-family homes were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 509,000 in October. On an unadjusted basis, there were about 40,000 new home sales during the month.

Texas was the top state for new home purchase application volume, with a 9.5% increase in purchase applications last month. Florida (up 9.3%) and California (4.6%) rounded out the top three.