October new-home mortgage applications fall 2.6%

By BrokerOwner.net November 17, 2025 Housing News

Mortgage
applications
for
new-home
purchases
decreased
2.6%
compared
to
a
year
ago,
according
to
the

Mortgage
Bankers
Association
(MBA)’s
Builder
Application
Survey
data
for
October
2025.

Compared
to
the
month
prior,
applications
decreased
by
1%.
MBA
noted
that
this
change
does
not
include
any
adjustment
for
typical
seasonal
patterns.

“Lower

mortgage
rates,
ongoing
usage
of
builder
concessions,
and
growing
levels
of
for-sale
inventory
drove
an
increase
in
new
home
sales
for
October.
The
annual
sales
pace,
at
771,000
units,
was
the
strongest
in
over
a
year,”
said

Joel
Kan,
MBA’s
vice
president
and
deputy
chief
economist.

“The
increased
use
of

ARM
loans,
for
which
rates
were
averaging
almost
80
basis
points
lower
than
fixed-rate
loans,
also
contributed
to
the
jump
in
sales
and
a
slightly
higher
average
loan
size,
the
third
monthly
increase.
In
October,
our
data
showed
that
ARM
loans
accounted
for
25%
of
applications,
up
from
16%
a
year
ago.”

Kan
added
that
MBA’s
new-home
sales
estimate
is
a
leading
indicator
of
the

U.S.
Census
Bureau‘s
new-home
sales
figure,
which
has
not
been
published
since
the
release
of
August
data
prior
to
the

federal
government
shutdown.

“Unadjusted
mortgage
application
counts
declined
slightly
over
the
month
but
remained
at
a
healthy
pace
relative
to
the
past
three
years,”
he
said.

MBA
estimates
new
single-family
home
sales
rose
to
a
seasonally
adjusted
annual
rate
of
771,000
in
October,
up
13.4%
from
September’s
pace
of
680,000
units.

On
an
unadjusted
basis,
MBA
projects
55,000
new
homes
were
sold
in
October,
a
1.9%
increase
from
the
prior
month.

Conventional
loans
accounted
for
51.9%
of
applications,
followed
by

Federal
Housing
Administration (FHA)
loans
at
35.1%,

U.S.
Department
of
Veterans
Affairs (VA)
loans
at
12.3%
and

U.S.
Department
of
Agriculture (USDA)
loans
at
0.7%.
The
average
loan
size
rose
to
$381,404
in
October,
up
from
$379,107
in
September.