The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released their mortgage application data for the week of December 16th. This data showed a slight slowing of mortgage applications by about 5.3% from the prior week, but this was not a shock since given the holiday season. Even though overall applications slightly slowed down for the week, purchase applications for the year are up by about 5% and refinances for the year are also up by a solid 128%. According to the MBA, interest rates are still about 1% lower than where they were this time last year.
Speaking of mortgage application activity, New Home Sales, which measures sales of single-family houses, increased in the month of November by 1.3%. Year over year this report showed that contracts for new homes increased by a whopping 17% since November of 2018! The median sales price for the month of November was $323,000.
As seen in these two reports, the housing market is still attractive and homes are still being sought out. Lower rates, lower inventories and high levels of demand are keeping the housing market healthy and moving forward into the new year.
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Sources:
http://bit.ly/2Swdl63
http://bit.ly/2sq38xg
By: Jon Iacono