March 14th, 2018 10:54 AM by Eric Fang
February's volume of mortgage loan applications for newly constructed homes rose both year-over-year and month-to-month, continuing the momentum from a surprisingly strong showing in January.
New home applications increased by 3% compared with January and by 4.6% compared with February 2017, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The data is not seasonally adjusted.
"Brisk activity in January likely pulled forward some buyer activity," Lynn Fisher, the MBA's vice president of research and economics, said in a press release.
"Combined, applications in January and February were up by 11% relative the same period last year. On a seasonally adjusted annual basis, our February estimate of new home sales based on mortgage applications came in at 632,000, ahead of the January Census estimate of 593,000 new homes sales, and back on trend following an uptick from hurricane-related rebuilding."