DALLAS, Oct. 15 TX-MortgageDaily.com
DALLAS, Oct. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Since the beginning of the credit crisis
in 2006, 243 mortgage-related operations have collapsed or closed down,
according to data tracked at http://www.MortgageGraveyard.com, a journal of
failed, ailing and acquired lenders.
So far this year, the number of failed entities is 74, according to the
Mortgage Graveyard, which is maintained by http://www.MortgageDaily.com.
The biggest casualties are wholesale lending units -- which mortgage
brokers depend on to fund their business. The latest wholesale operations to
close this year include those of Accredited Home Lenders Inc., Homecomings
Financial LLC and Wachovia Corp. In addition, CitiMortgage recently slashed
its wholesale operations.
Among the largest recent mortgage-related collapses were Fannie Mae,
Freddie Mac, IndyMac and Washington Mutual.
While the number of pure-play mortgage entities to fail this year is on
track to drop significantly from last year, the number of bank failures is on
the rise. Through Oct. 10, a total of 15 banks insured by the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation have failed.
But also on the rise are acquisitions.
Among the highest profile acquisitions were Bank of America Corp.'s
purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp. and MetLife Bank N.A.'s acquisition of
First Horizon National Corp.'s mortgage operations. In addition, Wells Fargo &
Co. has agreed to acquire Wachovia Corp.
Year Failed Acquired
Companies Companies
2008 year-to-date Oct. 14 7433
2007 full-year (revised) 15143
2006 full-year (revised) 1819
Several companies are still ailing or near collapse.
Among them are Impac Mortgage Holdings, which has suffered through a
string of losses and raised doubts in May about its ability to continue in
business; Residential Capital LLC, which has announced massive layoffs; and
Thornburg Mortgage Inc., which continues to warn about its ongoing viability.
"The Troubled Asset Relief Program presents the potential to stem the
rising number of failed financial firms," said MortgageDaily.com Publisher Sam
Garcia. "In addition to injecting capital directly into struggling financial
institutions, TARP may help unthaw the frozen secondary mortgage market."
A complete report of all failed companies is available at:
http://www.MortgageDaily.com/MortgageGraveyard.asp?spcode=pr
About MortgageDaily.com
Founded in 1998, MortgageDaily.com is a dominant online news source for
the mortgage industry. Around one million mortgage business news pages are
viewed monthly at MortgageDaily.com and its affiliate publications.
CONTACT:
Sam Garcia
mtgsam@aol.com
214.521.1300
3811-700 Turtle Creek Blvd.
Dallas, TX 75219
SOURCE MortgageDaily.com
