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Despite the year-over-year increase, applications decreased by 11% compared with March, according to the MBA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c[April] was the third straight month of year-over-year growth in applications, which signals improving housing demand for newly built homes at a time when the broader housing market is leaning more on new construction to boost for-sale inventory levels,\u201d says MBA vice president and deputy chief economist Joel Kan. \u201cMortgage rates have settled in the 6.5% range lately and remain over a percentage point higher than last year. The higher mortgage rate environment continues to factor into home buying and selling decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MBA estimates new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 649,000 units in April, based on data from the BAS. The seasonally adjusted estimate for April is a 2.6% decrease from March\u2019s pace. On an unadjusted basis, the estimated 58,000 new-home sales in April represents a 10.8% decrease from the pace of sales in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSince the brief pickup in new-home sales in January when mortgage rates dipped, the pace of new-home sales has declined for three consecutive months,\u201d Kan says. \u201cWith the recently released Census data showing single-family permitting activity on the upswing and housing starts also rising, we expect that to translate to growth in new-home sales activity in the second half of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n