April New Home Purchase Mortgage Applications Increased 22.1 Percent

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Application Survey (BAS) data for April 2024 shows mortgage applications for new home purchases increased 22.1 percent compared from a year ago. Compared to March 2024, applications increased by 2 percent. This change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.

“New home purchase activity increased at a healthy pace in April 2024 after a slight pause in March. Applications to purchase newly constructed homes increased 22 percent over the year and have now shown annual gains for 15 consecutive months,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist. “There continues to be healthy demand for new homes, given greater availability and other benefits over existing home purchases such as builder concessions and customization options. First-time homebuyers account for a growing share of purchase applications with the FHA share of applications at 26.3 percent in April, higher than the survey average of 18 percent dating back to 2013. Our estimate of new home sales increased more than 13 percent to 699,000 units, the strongest pace in three months.”

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 699,000 units in April 2024. 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 April is a increase of 13.7 percent from the March pace of 615,000 units.  On an unadjusted basis, MBA estimates that there were 62,000 new home sales in April 2024, a increase of 3.3 percent from 60,000 new home sales in March. 

By product type, conventional loans composed 62.8 percent of loan applications, FHA loans composed 26.3 percent, RHS/USDA loans composed 0.3 percent and VA loans composed 10.5 percent. The average loan size for new homes increased from $405,400 in March to $405,490 in April.

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.