According to data from the Builder Application Survey (BAS) conducted by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) in April 2026, there was a 2.4% decline in mortgage applications for new home purchases compared to the previous year. Applications fell by 10% from March 2026.
Note: There is no adjustment for normal seasonal variations in this modification.
“Ongoing economic uncertainty and higher mortgage rates contributed to lower purchase activity for newly built homes in April,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s VP 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.”
New Trends & Shifts Shake Up the Market
According to MBA estimates, new single-family home sales in April 2026 were operating at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 655,000 units, which has typically been a leading predictor of the U.S. Census Bureau’s New Residential Sales report. The BAS’s mortgage application data, along with presumptions about market coverage and other variables, are used to calculate the new home sales estimate.
Compared to the March rate of 717,000 units, the seasonally adjusted estimate for April is 8.6% lower. According to MBA’s unadjusted estimate, there were 60,000 new house sales in April 2026, down 13% from 69,000 in March. Conventional loans accounted for 49.5% of loan applications, followed by FHA loans (35.7%), RHS/USDA loans (1.1%), and VA loans (13.7%). Between March and April, the average loan size for new homes dropped from $381,938 to $378,384.
The number of applications submitted by mortgage subsidiaries of home builders nationwide is monitored by MBA’s Builder Application Survey. MBA is able to offer an early estimate of new home sales volumes at the national, state, and metro levels by using this data along with data from other sources. The kinds of financing that new house purchasers take out are also shown by this data.
Every month, the Census Bureau conducts official estimates of new house sales. New house sales are recorded in that data at the time of contract signing, which usually happens at the same time as the mortgage application.
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