August New Home Purchase Mortgage Applications Increased 1.0%

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Builder Application Survey for August 2025 shows mortgage applications for new home purchases increased 1.0% compared to a year ago. Compared to July 2025, applications decreased by 6%.

This change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.

“Applications to purchase newly constructed homes remained higher than last year, although the monthly pace of applications slowed from July,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist. “The bright spot in the August results was that estimated new home sales increased for the third consecutive month to its strongest sales pace in almost a year. Housing inventory levels continue to grow, which has given prospective homebuyers more buying options and continues to reduce sales price pressures. The average loan size remained below $380,000 for the fifth consecutive month and was close to 2021 levels.”

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 730,000 units in August 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 August is an increase of 6.6% from the July pace of 685,000 units.  On an unadjusted basis, MBA estimates that there were 56,000 new home sales in August 2025, a decrease of 3.4% from 58,000 new home sales in July. 

By product type, conventional loans composed 49.9% of loan applications, FHA loans composed 35.6%, RHS/USDA loans composed 1.2% and VA loans composed 13.4%. The average loan size for new homes increased from $372,745 in July to $374,288 in August.

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. 

Click here for additional information on MBA’s Builder Applications Survey.