The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Application Survey (BAS) data for June 2017 shows mortgage applications for new home purchases increased 10 percent compared to June 2016. Compared to May 2017, applications decreased by 4 percent. This change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.

"We are at the part of the season where housing market activity normally begins to slacken and this was true for mortgage applications for new homes in June. That said, activity was up by 10 percent relative to one year ago," said Lynn Fisher, MBA's Vice President of Research and Economics. "The shortage of existing housing supply should keep pressure on prices and new homebuilding throughout the balance of this year and into next. The June application data leads us to believe that new home sales in June will come in at 628,000 units on a seasonally adjusted basis which is 18 percent higher than for the same period last year."

By product type, conventional loans composed 70.0 percent of loan applications, FHA loans composed 16.7 percent, RHS/USDA loans composed 1.3 percent and VA loans composed 12 percent. The average loan size of new homes increased from $324,844 in May to $327,833 in June.

The MBA estimates new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 628,000 units in June 2017, based on data from the BAS. The new home sales estimate is derived using mortgage application information from the BAS, as well as assumptions regarding market coverage and other factors.

The seasonally adjusted estimate for June is an increase of 3.8 percent from the May pace of 605,000 units. On an unadjusted basis, the MBA estimates that there were 55,000 new home sales in June 2017, a decrease of 3.5 percent from 57,000 new home sales in May.

MBA's Builder Application Survey tracks application volume from mortgage subsidiaries of home builders across the country. Utilizing this data, as well as data from other sources, MBA is able to provide an early estimate of new home sales volumes at the national, state, and metro level. This data also provides information regarding 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 is typically coincident with the mortgage application.