Mortgage applications for new home purchases during April were down by 2.4% from one year earlier and were also down by 10% from the previous month.
According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Application Survey, new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 655,000 units in April, a decrease of 8.6% from the March pace of 717,000 units. On an unadjusted basis, MBA estimated that there were 60,000 new home sales last month, down by 13% from 69,000 new home sales in March.
The average loan size for new homes decreased from $381,938 in March to $378,384 in April. Conventional loans composed nearly half (49.5%) of loan applications while FHA loans accounted for more than one-third (35.7%); the remaining shares were divided among RHS/USDA loans (1.1%) and VA loans (13.7%).
“Ongoing economic uncertainty and higher mortgage rates contributed to lower purchase activity for newly built homes in April,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist. “Applications to purchase new homes fell below last year’s pace, the first year-over-year decline since October 2025.”
Kan added, “Given the high levels of unsold inventory available in many markets, MBA expects purchase activity to pick up in the coming months as upward price pressures continue to fade. FHA, VA, and USDA applications accounted for a little over half of all applications in April, as many borrowers continued to rely on government programs to help with affordability.”
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