The new and existing home sales survey show a housing market that is still quite robust, with sales volumes down 5.9% and 6.6% respectively from last years’s peak.

The Mortgage Bankers Association numbers out this morning tell a different story.

Per Bloomberg: ” The refinancing index has fallen 46 percent from the same time in 2005, and the measure of purchase applications is down 27 percent from a peak in June last year, today’s report showed. Refinancing’s share of all loan applications slipped to 35.3 percent last week, from 35.5 percent the prior week, according to the report.”

These numbers seem much more consistent with the anecdotal evidence of a sharp slowdown and steadily rising inventories.