MBA: February New Home Purchase Mortgage Applications Increased 0.9%

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Application Survey (BAS) data for February 2026 shows mortgage applications for new home purchases increased 0.9% from a year ago. Compared to January 2026, applications decreased by 1%. This change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.

“New home sales activity increased slightly in February compared to year-ago levels. More housing inventory has broadly supported some of the growth in homebuying patterns in recent months,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist. “However, even as lower mortgage rates provided some payment relief towards the end of the month, both applications for purchase loans and new home sales were lower than in January. Macroeconomic uncertainty likely played a role in this sluggishness, especially given the weakening job market. Additionally, with much of the available inventory in Sunbelt states, demand in many of those markets might be slowing, even with easing home-price growth.”

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 641,000 units in February 2026. 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 February is a decrease of 3.3% from the January pace of 663,000 units. On an unadjusted basis, MBA estimates that there were 57,000 new home sales in February 2026, a decrease of 1.7% from 58,000 new home sales in January. 

By product type, conventional loans composed 49.4% of loan applications, FHA loans composed 35.3%, RHS/USDA loans composed 1.2% and VA loans composed 14.1%. The average loan size for new homes decreased from $385,506 in January to $383,570 in February.

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.