Tag: #homebuyerexperts

The July report on residential construction from the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development shows that permits increased during the month for only the second time since January while housing starts posted a significant decline, falling in three of the four major regions.

Permits for residential construction were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.635 million units, up 2.6 percent from the 1.594 million rate in June. June’s permits were originally reported at 1.598 million units. The rate of permitting was 6.0 percent higher than the 1.542 million unit estimate in July 2020.

The permitting number was slightly higher than expected. Analysts polled by Econoday had a consensus forecast of 1.62 million units and Trading Economics‘ predictions came in at 1.61 million.

Mortgage application volume was lower over the last week, continuing the up-one-week, down-the-next pattern it has displayed since late June. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) says its Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, dropped 3.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ended August 13 and was 4 percent lower on an unadjusted basis. Most of the downturn was on the refinancing side of originations. The Refinance Index decreased 5 percent from the previous week and was 8 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The refinance share of mortgage activity accounted to 67.3 percent of total applications, down from 68.0 percent the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 1 percent from one week earlier and 2 percent before adjustment. It was 19 percent lower than the same week in 2020.

Mortgage applications for the purchase of newly built homes fell sharply in July, but the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said it expects new home sales for the month will remain strong. MBA’s Builder Application Survey (BAS) recorded a 27.4 percent decline in applications compared to July 2020 data. Applications were down 4 percent from June 2021. The numbers are not seasonally adjusted.

Based on the survey data and other assumptions, MBA estimates that new single-family home sales during the month were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 779,000 units. This is an increase of 10.7 percent from the previous month’s annual rate of 704,000 units. On an unadjusted basis, there were an estimated 64,000 home sold during the month, down from 66,000 in June.