March New Home Mortgage Applications Increased
Mortgage applications for new homes rose 5.5% year-over-year and 14% from February, the MBA said. The average loan size fell.
WASHINGTON — The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Application Survey (BAS) data for March 2025 shows mortgage applications for new home purchases increased 5.5% compared from a year ago. Compared to February 2025, applications increased by 14%. This change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.
"Applications for new home purchases increased in March, consistent with typical seasonal patterns and supported by mortgage rates that had been drifting lower," said Joel Kan, MBA's vice president and deputy chief economist. "The growing inventory of newly built, move-in ready homes supported homebuyer interest over the month, pushing the index higher than last year's levels. Our estimate of seasonally adjusted new home sales saw a slight decline in March but were stronger than last year's pace of sales."
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, were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 629,000 units in March 2025. 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 March is a decrease of 0.8% from the February pace of 634,000 units. On an unadjusted basis, MBA estimates that there were 61,000 new home sales in March 2025, an increase of 7% from 57,000 new home sales in February.
By product type, conventional loans composed 49.0% of loan applications, FHA loans composed 37.0%, RHS/USDA loans composed 0.9% and VA loans composed 13%. The average loan size for new homes decreased from $397,516 in February to $381,921 in March.
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.
Source: Mortgage Bankers Association
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