Mortgage Employment Stabilizing

DALLAS, July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Second-quarter jobs losses in the real estate finance sector fell by more than half from the prior quarter and the prior year, according to mortgage employment data tracked by http://www.mortgagedaily.com/.

From April 1 to June 30, there were 5,889 mortgage-related layoffs tracked. During that same period, 100 jobs were added, bringing the net job loss to 5,789.

Hirings and layoffs tracked by MortgageDaily.com generally involve at least 50 people.

The latest figures compare to revised net job losses of 14,405 in the first quarter 2008 and approximately 12,752 in the second quarter 2007.

Government data indicate that mortgage employment has gone from 360,700 on March 31, 2008, to 357,800 as of May 31, 2008.

                             2nd Quarter 2008
                      Estimated Mortgage Job Losses
                               Top 5 States

                  Rank      State         Net Job Losses
                   1.       Washington       -2,000
                   2.       California         -542
                   3.       Florida            -244
                   4.       Pennsylvania       -217
                   5.       Michigan           -125
                  ---       TOTAL U.S.       -5,789



                             Top 5 Companies

                  Rank   Company                   Net Job Losses
                   1.    Washington Mutual*                -4,000
                   2.    Accredited Home Lenders Inc.*       -700
                   3.    Wilmington Finance Inc.             -335
                   4.    Quicken Loans Inc.                  -250
                   5.    First Collateral Services Inc.      -142
                   *estimated

Chase Home Lending, HSBC Mortgage Services and Residential Capital LLC each reported layoffs during the second quarter that will not occur until later this year.

IBM Lender Business Process Services and MidFirst Bank reported second- quarter job additions, while Mortgage Network Inc., Residential Finance Corp.

and Fidelity Reverse Mortgage disclosed plans to add more employees subsequent to the second quarter.

"We have seen mortgage-related layoffs decline each quarter since the third quarter 2007, when there were around 50,000 layoffs," MortgageDaily.com Publisher Sam Garcia said. "Pockets of growth are emerging in FHA lending, reverse lending and businesses that support back-office functions. We also expect to see future growth in commercial mortgage lending and loan servicing."

The full second-quarter employment analysis is available to MortgageDaily.com subscribers at: http://www.mortgagedaily.com/EmploymentByStateReport070708.asp?spcode=pr

Complete mortgage employment news coverage, including articles about the layoffs outlined in this report, is available at: http://www.mortgagedaily.com/MortgageEmployment.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.

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   Sam Garcia
   mtgsam@aol.com
   214.521.1300
   3811-700 Turtle Creek Blvd.
   Dallas, TX 75219

CONTACT: Sam Garcia of MortgageDaily.com, +1-214-521-1300, mtgsam@aol.com

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