Purchase mortgage applications for newly constructed homes tumbled in April after surging 26% in March, ultimately landing below year-ago levels, new data published Tuesday indicates.
In fact, April marked the first month of annual declines in new-home mortgage demand since last October, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The trade group clocked a 2.4% year-over-year dip in new-home application volumes and a 10% drop-off from March.
Phil Crescenzo Jr., a branch manager at NFM Lending, called the March spike in new-home mortgage demand and subsequent pullback in April a lagging indicator of homebuying conditions at the start of the year.
“It wasn’t really market driven,” said Crescenzo, who works with several of the largest...