Mortgage applications for new home purchases in April rose 2% from the previous month, and jumped 5.3% when compared to one year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

New single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 718,000 units in April. That is the highest level of sales since October 2024 when new homes were selling at an annual rate of 747,000.

The seasonally adjusted estimate for April is an increase of 14.1% from the March pace of 629,000 units. On an unadjusted basis, MBA estimates there were 65,000 new home sales in April, an increase of 6.6% from the 61,000 new homes sold in March.

Conventional loans comprised 46.4% of loan applications, Federal Housing Administration loans accounted for 39.2% and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs loans accounted for 13.5%. U.S. Department of Agriculture loans were 0.9% of the total.

Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist, said in a statement that despite the ongoing economic uncertainty and mortgage rate volatility, April was a strong month for new home purchase activity, with applications posting an annual gain for the second straight month.

“The applications index reached its highest level in the survey’s history dating back to 2012,” Kan said in the statement. “As the unsold inventory of new homes continues to grow in many parts of the country, reduced buyer competition and pricing pressures supported more buying activity over the month.”