As rates dropped below 5 percent over the first two months of the year mortgage refinance volume increased and purchase volume remained unchanged. In its market composite index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, the Mortgage Banker’s Association (MBA) reported refinance volume increasing 1.8 percent over the previous month and purchase loan volume decreasing 2.7 percent over the same period.

If you’re old enough to know anyone from the depression era, you may have noticed that, as a group, they generally prefer saving money to spending it. Of course, they grew up in a time of great distrust for banks and believed the only safe place for their money was under a mattress (literally).

Some call it being miserly, others call it cheap, still others call it just plain smart. By spending only what you can afford you can avoid debt and the possibility of going bankrupt. That sentiment was not a lesson quickly learned by the depression era’s children, the baby boomers, who in recent years had been refinancing their homes year after year to pull out equity as cash to spend on toys like cars, boats, and McMansions.

But now, after the worst economic recession since the great depression, the saving mentality seems to be coming back into vogue.  As …