NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Interesting juxtaposition of news this morning.

The latest sprinkling of comments from some Federal Reserve officials are reinforcing the notion that interest rates will keep rising. At the same time Mortgage Bankers Association reports big jump in mortgage applications last week.

While it might seem contradictory -- rising rates and a still-hot housing market - it's not.

Last night in a speech St. Louis Fed president Bill Poole said he would not be surprised if economists raised their third quarter economic growth forecasts after Friday's strong jobs report. Meanwhile -installed Dallas Fed president Richard Fisher said the Fed was not "frazzled" yes, that's a technical monetary policy term) by the first quarter soft patch in the economy. And Kansas City Fed prez Tom Hoenig reportedly said yesterday that at 3 percent the Fed's key short-term rate is still "accommodative" -- that's Fedspeak for too low and too stimulative so it has to be raised more.

No big surprises here. We know the anti-inflation hawks are leading the way at the Fed right now. But while the Fed hikes short rates because it believes the economy is strong and inflation the bigger threat, long rates stay low. And those low rates, along with the stronger economy keep housing demand healthy.

Fed chief Alan Greenspan calls it a conundrum. Homebuyers and home refinancers call it, so far, so good.

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-- Kathleen Hays is economics correspondent for CNN and contributes to Lou Dobbs Tonight. You can read more of her columns here.