August New Home Purchase Mortgage Applications Decreased 5.5 Percent
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Application Survey (BAS) data for August 2026 shows mortgage applications for new home purchases decreased 5.5 percent from a year ago. Compared to July 2026, applications decreased by 6 percent. This change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.
“Increasing mortgage rates continue to put pressure on new home sales activity. Applications to purchase newly constructed homes declined in August for the fifth straight month, with the level of applications down to its lowest in 2026,” said Joel Kan, CMB, MBA’s Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist. “More homebuyers turned to FHA loans in response to higher mortgage rates and those loans accounted for 35 percent of applications, the highest share in three months. New home sales were estimated to have increased over the month to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 664,000 units, but remain 9 percent lower than last year’s pace.”
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 664,000 units in August 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 August is an increase of 2.6 percent from the July pace of 647,000 units. On an unadjusted basis, MBA estimates that there were 52,000 new home sales in August 2026, a decrease of 3.7 percent from 54,000 new home sales in July.
By product type, conventional loans composed 49.5 percent of loan applications, FHA loans composed 35.0 percent, RHS/USDA loans composed 1.7 percent and VA loans composed 13.9 percent. The average loan size for new homes decreased from $374,438 in July to $373,194 in August.
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.
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