Refinances Outweigh Purchases in Stalled Housing Market

Clearly the purchase mortgage market continues to find new lows, which, of course, means the real estate sales market is just about flat since the deadline for taking advantage of the tax credit ended April 30. Last week's Purchase Index, which tallies mortgages approved for home purchases, was the lowest since December 1996 and dropped 2.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Refinances continue to dominate mortgage activity with 78.7 percent of the total applications from the previous week. The average for the refinance market was up 2.6 percent.

If you've been waiting for the bottom of the market to refinance, we may be there.