New home purchase applications rebounded in January after a notable dip the month prior, according to the latest Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Application Survey (BAS) data.
January mortgage applications were 19 percent higher compared to December 2025 and 2 percent higher than the same month last year. MBA noted that these changes do not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns in a press release.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, BAS data indicates that January saw a more modest 3.6 percent increase in purchase applications from the December pace of 640,000 units. On an unadjusted basis, MBA estimates that there were 58,000 new home sales in January 2026, an increase of 16 percent from 50,000 new home sales in December.
The average loan size for new homes increased from $380,607 in December to $385,506 in January, according to the BAS data.
“New home purchase activity strengthened in January, as both mortgage applications and new home sales saw gains,” MBA Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist Joel Kan said in a press release. “This increase was consistent with single-family housing starts finishing 2025 at a stronger pace even as permitting stayed relatively flat. MBA’s January estimated sales pace for newly built homes rebounded slightly from December to a pace of 663,000 units as buyers continue to use builder concessions and ARM loans. The average loan size of a purchase application was $385,506, the highest in 11 months.”
MBA estimates that new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 663,000 units in January 2026, noting in the release that these sales have “consistently been a leading indicator of the U.S. Census Bureau’s New Residential Sales report.” The new home sales estimate is derived using mortgage application information from the BAS, as well as assumptions regarding market coverage and other factors.
By product type, conventional loans made up 48.9 percent of all loan applications, loans secured by the Federal Housing Administration composed 34.9 percent, U.S. Department of Agriculture loans accounted for 1.3 percent of all loans and loans issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs composed 14.8 percent.
MBA’s BAS tracks application volume from mortgage subsidiaries of home builders across the country, according to the release. MBA utilizes this data, along with other data sources, to provide an early estimate of new home sales volumes at the national, state and metro level, as well as information about 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 typically coincides with the mortgage application.