Recent data from Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Purchase Applications Payment Index (PAPI) found the national median payment applied for by applicants decreased 2.9 percent to $1,920 in December 2022 from $1,977 in November 2022. This is also a 38.8 percent increase from December 2021, when median payments were $1,386.
“There was a slight improvement in homebuyer affordability last month as mortgage rates fell by 37 basis points from November,” MBA Associate Vice President, Housing Economics, and Executive Director, Research Institute for Housing America Edward Seiler said in a release. “While overall homebuyer affordability did increase, the median purchase application payment amount last month increased nearly $3,000 to $300,000. With inflation cooling slightly, MBA expects both mortgage rates and home-price growth to soften, which along with cooling inflation, should help bring more prospective buyers into the market during the spring homebuying season.”
The top five states with the highest PAPI were: Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, Utah, and Florida. The top five states with the lowest PAPI were: North Dakota, Vermont, Washington, D.C., Connecticut, and West Virginia.
MBA also included new data on applications for newly built single-family homes from its Builder Application Survey (BAS) data. Its new index, the Builders’ Purchase Application Payment Index (BPAPI) is based on this BAS data. The BPAPI for December 2022 showed the median mortgage payment for purchase mortgages was $2,399. This represents a 35.5 percent increase from December 2021 when the median mortgage was $1,770.