New Home Sales Drop 1.7% in the West in July

New home sales have dropped 1.7% to 290,000 in the West including California. New home sales are calculated on the date they receive a sign deposit for the property to be built, while existing home sales are calculated on closed escrow transactions. Last month existing home sales also dropped slightly. Again, most industry insiders attribute the drop to higher mortgage rates. Nationally new home sales fell more than 6.4%.

Inventories of available new homes based on the current sales pace have ballooned to a 4.2 months supply, the highest inventory level since Fedruary 2003.

California mortgage rates have edged up since last week causing new home loan applications to fall slightly according to a mortgage banking trade group. Mortgage refinance activity has also slowed down by 6.3% according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

As mortgage rates on the first mortgage climb we are seening an increase into home equity line of credit loans. Our HELOC is a 3.99% APR equity line of credit based on the prime rate minus .51% for the life of the loan. Get all the details regarding this home equity line of credit.

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Jessie J. Beaudoin