While mortgage loan application volume for new homes across the U.S. ticked up 4 percent from July to August and was 20.6 percent higher than at the same time last year, the seasonally adjusted gain from July to August was below average and the year-over-year gain, which measured 35.5 percent in July, has slowed, according to application data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
At the same time, inventory levels ticked up in July and were 33 percent higher than prior to the pandemic having hit, despite frequent misreports of “record low inventory levels.” And while the average loan size for a new home in the U.S. was effectively unchanged from July ($397,148) to August ($398,092) it was 4 percent lower than at the same time last year ($415,594) despite the “jump in demand.”