U.S. Mortgage Applications for New Home Purchases Spike 24 Percent in February

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Based on the Mortgage Bankers Association's latest Builder Application Survey for February 2016, U.S. mortgage applications for new home purchases increased by 24 percent relative to the previous month. This change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.

"Mortgage applications to homebuilder affiliates increased across the board in our survey for February as continued low interest rates and fairly mild weather helped to kick off the spring buying season. Our estimate of new single family home sales for February comes in at 544,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis, nearly 12 percent above February a year ago," said Lynn Fisher, MBA's Vice President of Research and Economics.

By product type, conventional loans composed 67.7 percent of loan applications, FHA loans composed 18.7 percent, RHS/USDA loans composed 0.8 percent and VA loans composed 12.8 percent. The average loan size of new homes increased from $325,806 in January to $328,370 in February.

The MBA estimates new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 544,000 units in February 2016, based on data from the BAS. The new home sales estimate is derived using mortgage application information from the BAS, as well as assumptions regarding market coverage and other factors.

The seasonally adjusted estimate for February is an increase of 9 percent from the January pace of 499,000 units. On an unadjusted basis, the MBA estimates that there were 47,000 new home sales in February 2016, an increase of 23.7 percent from 38,000 new home sales in January.