New-home purchase mortgage demand kept growing in July

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)’s Builder Application Survey data for July 2025, released on Monday, shows that mortgage applications for new-home purchases increased 6.8% compared from a year ago.

Compared to June 2025, applications increased by 7%. This change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.

“Purchase activity for new homes strengthened in July as both mortgage applications and estimated new home sales reached their highest levels since April 2025,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist.

“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.”

MBA estimates that new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 685,000 units in July 2025. This estimate has historically been a reliable leading indicator of the U.S. Census Bureau’s New Residential Sales report, according to the trade group.

The new-home sales estimate is derived using mortgage application information from the Builder Application Survey, as well as assumptions regarding market coverage and other factors.

The seasonally adjusted estimate for July is an increase of 2.7% from the June pace of 667,000 units.

On an unadjusted basis, MBA estimates that there were 58,000 new-home sales in July 2025, an increase of 5.5% from 55,000 new-home sales in June.

By product type, conventional loans composed 50.1% of loan applications. Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans accounted for 35.3%%. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) loans composed 13.4%, and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) loans were 1.2%. The average loan size for new homes decreased from $376,077 in June to $372,745 in July.