If you are like me, you are probably getting pretty tired of reading bad housing news day after day, so today it is nice to bring you some good news on the housing market, as mortgage applications rose last week for the first time in three weeks.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the week ended May 2 saw a 15.6% jump in the association's index of mortgage applications. The index takes into account both new purchase as well as refinance loans.

It is a good sign for the housing market, which is entering into its peak buying season. Perhaps this is the moment we have been waiting for, when buyers are finally ready to come back into the market and sweep up some heavily discounted houses. Home prices have been steadily falling for the past year, but signs are starting to point to a possible stabilizing early in 2009.

Recent interest rate cuts have led many homeowners to make the decision to go for refinancing. Last week, we saw a 19.3% increase in the rate of mortgage refinancing. The refinancing index is now higher than it was a year ago by 7.5%. Another good sign that the tide could be turning.

The real question will be how well the housing market is able to perform this summer, when home sales are usually at their highest. We have been given indications that the Federal Reserve could be getting ready to pause its recent rate cuts, so we will have to wait and see how the housing market behaves if the Fed decides to leave rates unchanged over the summer.

Hopefully the combination of lower home prices, and the recent rate cuts will continue to encourage more buyers into the market ... but that is something only time will tell.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last four years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.