Demand up for New Homes:

According to the Mortgage Banker's Association, mortgage applications for New Home (homes not previously occupied) are on the move upward.

Purchase apps were up 15% year over year. Month over month, applications went up by 4%. On a seasonally adjusted basis, last month saw an increase of 8.6% from April’s 557,000 units; on an unadjusted basis, new home sales increased by 5.6% to 57,000 new units from 54,000 in April.

"Following a decline in April, applications for new homes slightly rebounded month-over-month in May, setting up a 15% year over year increase relative to May of 2016," said Lynn Fisher, MBA vice president of research and economics. "While March has signaled the peak in applications for new homes for the last two years, we may see more sustained activity throughout the balance of this year as demand for new homes continues to increase and strong house price growth continues to motivate homebuilding."

Conventional loans made up 69.2% of loan applications; FHA loans, 17.5%; RHS/USDA loans, 1.1%; and VA loans, 12.2%. The average loan size of new homes decreased to $324,844 last month from $329,244 in April.