MBA: December New Home Purchase Mortgage Applications Increased 2.5%

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Application Survey (BAS) data for December 2025 shows mortgage applications for new home purchases increased 2.5% from a year ago. Compared to November 2025, applications decreased by 3%. This change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.

“December purchase activity for newly built homes continued to run stronger than last year, despite cooling slightly from the prior month,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist.  “New homes remain a viable option for many homebuyers given that there is a relatively large number of new homes available for sale, which has prompted incentives and price reductions from builders in some markets.  The annualized sales pace dropped to 640,000 units in December, the slowest sales pace since May, but that was still almost 7% higher than last year’s pace. In our latest forecast, we expect new home sales in 2026 will increase gradually as mortgage rates stay close to current levels and sales price growth remains muted, given the excess inventory. MBA’s new home sales estimate continues to lead results from the Census Bureau, which currently only has data published through October due to delays stemming from the recent government shutdown.”

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 640,000 units in December 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 December is a decrease of 15.2% from the November pace of 755,000 units.  On an unadjusted basis, MBA estimates that there were 50,000 new home sales in December 2025, a decrease of 2% from 51,000 new home sales in November. 

By product type, conventional loans composed 50.5% of loan applications, FHA loans composed 34.7%, RHS/USDA loans composed 0.9% and VA loans composed 13.8%. The average loan size for new homes increased from $378,063 in November to $380,607 in December.

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. 

For additional information on MBA’s Builder Applications Survey, please click here.