While inventory levels hit a 13-year high in August, and were up over 30 percent on a year-over-year basis, mortgage application volumes to purchase new homes in the U.S. dropped 4 percent in September and were down over 16 percent on a year-over-year basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
As such, the estimated pace of new home sales has dropped 3.5 percent, which shouldn’t catch any plugged-in readers by surprise.
And while the average loan size “rose to another record high,” it’s being driven by a change in the mix (“to larger, more expensive homes”), not a mis-reported “increase in values,” which once again shouldn’t catch any plugged-in readers by surprise).