The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released their weekly mortgage application data. This week’s report shows applications to purchase a home have increased 1% since last week, with purchases making up a large portion of these new applications, due to large amounts of demand. Since last year, applications are now up 7%. Applications to purchase a home are nearing their highest levels that were seen back in 2010!
Refinance applications, which are more interest rate-sensitive, were down in this weekly report by 8%, but are still up around 25% from about a year ago.
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) conducts a survey every month where they try to get a pulse on the general economy and the current state of the housing market. By conducting this survey, they create a Housing Market Index for each month. For April, they released a score of 63 which was in-line with expectations and higher than last month’s score of 62. The increase was mostly due to the demand of homes found via foot traffic by potential buyers, which increased by three points. The “sales of new homes” component also increased. A score over 50 is seen as strong and optimistic for the housing market.
Sources:
http://bit.ly/2IPQtu0
http://bit.ly/2NTTRDD
By: Jon Iacono