SAN DIMAS, Calif. — A year ago you could find a debate on whether or not the housing market was on the cusp of a significant slide. With sales down and inventories up, the picture painted is not entirely bleak as credit unions have a distinct opportunity to address the market through refinancing products.

"The market for new purchase mortgages will be declining," forecast Dwight Johnston, vice president, economic and market research at WesCorp. "There will be a continued strong demand for refinancing. It's a real opportunity for credit unions to be there and to be there with some reasonable and affordable products. I think if they promote being there for refinancing it will prove to be beneficial to both the credit unions and their members."

Refinancing products will be in demand due to a number of factors prevalent in the current housing market. For instance, Johnston said, in California there was a report that default notices are going out at a 100% increase over last year. The average loan age was only 14 months so people that are getting in trouble are the ones that bought homes more recently and during the peak in prices. They bought homes mostly with loans and they weren't prepared for the rate adjustments. Since they probably also put little or nothing down that gives them little or no incentive to hold on to the home, Johnston added.