OT:

Some good economic news for a change:

Mortgage applications up 5.3% last week: MBA

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Mortgage applications rose a seasonally adjusted 5.3% last week, compared with the week before, due to an uptick in refinance applications, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported on Wednesday.

Applications were up 76.9% for the week ended April 17, compared with the same week in 2008, the MBA said. The weekly MBA survey covers about half of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications.

Refinance applications were up an unadjusted 7.7% last week, compared with the week before. Applications for mortgages to purchase a home were down a seasonally adjusted 4.2%, compared with the week before.
The four-week moving average for all mortgages was up 0.3%.
The share of applications for refinance mortgages was 79.7% of total applications, up from 77.8% the previous week. The share of adjustable-rate mortgages was 1.4% of all applications last week, down slightly from 1.5% the previous week.

I think the 76.9% increase quoted in the second paragraph might by a typo on their part. But be that as it may, there is starting to be some solid indications that the real estate market is starting to firm a bit.

The Dow is up abut 44 points at the moment.