April New Home Purchase Mortgage Applications Decrease 2.4%

The Mortgage Bankers Association Builder Application Survey data for April 2026 shows mortgage applications for new home purchases decreased 2.4% from a year ago. Compared to March 2026, applications decreased by 10%. This change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.

“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. The estimated pace of new home sales was down over the month and from a year ago, slowing to 655,000 units. 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.”

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 655,000 units in April 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 April is a decrease of 8.6% from the March pace of 717,000 units.  On an unadjusted basis, MBA estimates that there were 60,000 new home sales in April 2026, a decrease of 13% from 69,000 new home sales in March. 

By product type, conventional loans composed 49.5% of loan applications, FHA loans composed 35.7%, RHS/USDA loans composed 1.1% and VA loans composed 13.7%. The average loan size for new homes decreased from $381,938 in March to $378,384 in April.

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 Application Survey, please click here.