July New Home Purchase Mortgage Applications Increased 6.8%

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Builder Application Survey data for July 2025 shows mortgage applications for new home purchases increased 6.8% compared to a year ago.

Compared to June 2025, applications increased by 7%. This change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.

“Purchase activity for new homes strengthened in July as both mortgage applications and estimated new home sales reached their highest levels since April 2025,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist. “Applications were boosted by borrowers looking to take advantage of slightly lower mortgage rates during the month and higher levels of newly built inventory. This likely helped to improve affordability, as many builders are still offering concessions to buyers. Additionally, the average loan size continued to trend lower.”

MBA estimates new single-family home sales, which has consistently been a leading indicator of the U.S. Census Bureau’s New Residential Sales report, is that new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 685,000 units in July 2025. The new home sales estimate is derived using mortgage application information from the BAS, as well as assumptions regarding market coverage and other factors.

The seasonally adjusted estimate for July is an increase of 2.7% from the June pace of 667,000 units. On an unadjusted basis, MBA estimates that there were 58,000 new home sales in July 2025, an increase of 5.5% from 55,000 new home sales in June.

By product type, conventional loans composed 50.1% of loan applications, FHA loans composed 35.3%, RHS/USDA loans composed 1.2% and VA loans composed 13.4%. The average loan size for new homes decreased from $376,077 in June to $372,745 in July.

MBA’s Builder Application Survey tracks application volume from mortgage subsidiaries of home builders across the country. Utilizing this data, as well as data from other sources, MBA is able to provide an early estimate of new home sales volumes at the national, state, and metro level. This data also provides information regarding the types of loans used by new home buyers. Official new home sales estimates are conducted by the Census Bureau on a monthly basis. In that data, new home sales are recorded at contract signing, which is typically coincident with the mortgage application.