Housing Demand Crashes as Effects of Tax Credit Wane

Maybe you had an open house last weekend and nobody came. You weren't alone. The number of people buying homes fell steeply in May, according to one of the first reports to describe home buying activity for the month, an index of mortgages applications to buy homes.

The Purchase Index for May from the Mortgage Bankers Association, hit its lowest level in more than a year. This marks a huge turnaround from earlier this spring, when demand for housing went through a mini-boom ignited by the expanded $8,000 homebuyer tax credit.

That mini-housing boom is over now, and we're just beginning to see how deep the mini-housing crash that follows is likely to be.