Applications for mortgages for new home purchases increased 7% in July compared with June and were up 6.8% compared with July 2024, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Builder Application Survey.
“Purchase activity for new homes strengthened in July as both mortgage applications and estimated new home sales reached their highest levels since April 2025,” says Joel Kan, vice president and deputy chief economist for the MBA, in a statement. “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.”
New single-family home sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 685,000 in July – an increase of 2.7% compared with June.
On an unadjusted basis, MBA estimates that there were 58,000 new home sales in July, an increase of 5.5% compared with the previous month.
By product type, conventional loans composed 50.1% of new home loan applications, FHA loans composed 35.3%, RHS/USDA loans composed 1.2% and VA loans composed 13.4%.
The average loan size for a new home decreased to $372,745, down from $376,077 in June.
Photo: Annie Gray