Mortgage applications to purchase new homes up

Plus: Realtor.com reports active inventory up 35.8% YoY

šŸ˜… In case you haven't heard the big news, it's Friday. Today's newsletter is 523 words, a 2.5-minute read.

Disclaimer: Average mortgage rates as of July 18, 2024. Ā© MND's Daily Rate Index.

1. Mortgage applications to purchase new homes up

The MBA Builder Application Survey data for June 2024 shows mortgage applications for new home purchases increased 0.7 percent compared to a year ago. Compared to May 2024, applications decreased by 16 percent. This change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.

ā€œApplications for new home purchases slowed in June, consistent with broader declines in single-family construction and new building permits as well as typical seasonal patterns, the average loan size edged lower for the second consecutive month, and the share of FHA applications increased to 28.7 percent, as first-time buyers continue to account for a growing share of demand for newly built homes.ā€

Joel Kan, MBAā€™s Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist

2. Realtor.com reports active inventory up 35.8% YoY

For the 36th week in a row, the number of for-sale homes grew compared with one year ago. This past week, the inventory of homes for sale grew by 35.8% compared with last year, slightly higher than the rate observed in the previous week.

Despite nearly 8 months of growing inventory, buyers still see more than 30% fewer homes for sale compared with pre-pandemic. New listingsā€“a measure of sellers putting homes up for saleā€“were up this week by 8.8% from one year ago. LINK

A MESSAGE FROM LAND.ID

The Real Estate Professionalā€™s Secret Weapon - Land idā„¢

Discover extensive nationwide private parcel data, create & showcase powerful, shareable, interactive maps of any property: Fast, Easy and Mobile, with Land idā„¢.

With the brand new streamlined Property Info Cards, Land idā„¢ brings industry leading data and contextual layers to the forefront in a single tap or swipe.

3. More Nuggets

šŸ˜ļø Some renters may be ā€˜mortgage-readyā€™ and not know it. Hereā€™s how to tell. (CNBC)

šŸ“° Survey reveals 85% of workers have to deal with annoying colleagues. (Kick)

šŸ’° This Miami mansion found a buyer in a day ā€” for $34M in cash. (New York Post)

4. Fannie Mae: Home prices rose by 3% in second quarter, show signs of slowing

Single-family home prices increased 6.9 percent from Q2 2023 to Q2 2024, down from the previous quarter's upwardly revised annual growth rate of 7.3 percent, according to Fannie Mae.

On a quarterly basis, home prices rose a seasonally adjusted 1.3 percent in Q2 2024, down from the revised 2.0 percent growth in Q1 2024. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, home prices increased by 3.0 percent in Q2 2024. LINK

5. Radian Group laying off 70 employees

The mortgage insurer plans to cut roughly 70 of its 450 employees in Wayne, effective Sept. 13, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Acts (WARN) filing with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry.

A Radian spokeswoman said the company has been focused on cutting costs in recent years ā€œto reflect the market opportunity we see for each business. As a result, we have streamlined areas of our technology team and various other areas to attain operational efficiency."

ā˜€ļø Youā€™re all caught up. See you on Monday!

Would you like to receive a done-for-you weekly marketing email that you can send to your realtors and/or clients? Start your 30-day free trial here.

Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

Interested in advertising to mortgage professionals like you? Get in touch.