My wife and I have no loans on cars and no apartment (owned) yet. We want to buy a new car and finance it. How would that affect our home loans (in, say, 6 months)? Do the banks prefer you to have as little debt as possible, or would the car loan be good for our credit because we will be paying the financing on a regular basis for the next half year? We both have great credit ratings.

Appreciate any advice.

Yes, it will help your credit rating but depending on your income and the amount you want to borrow to buy the house it could negatively affect your ability to get a mortgage. Don’t go in over your head on the car.