The mortgage industry will never be the same after the challenges brought on this year by the credit crunch, housing slump and dramatic rise in foreclosures.

This was the perfect storm for the mortgage industry and will be reflected in history as a year that saw almost 80,000 jobs within the industry disappeared. Looking back there are so may critical events that took place it is hard to document all of them, but these were some of the leading stories:

• American Home Mortgage a top 10 national retail lenders closed down in mid August a casualty of the credit crunch
• The federal reserve lowered the fed funds rate to 4.25%
• The rate of foreclosures increased at a record pace
• Countrywide the nations largest lender saw its stock value drop over 70%
• The sub prime industry imploded
• Major investment banks such as Citigroup & Morgan Stanley took billions in losses due to write downs related to mortgage backed securities
• The secondary market stopped buying loans and the term "credit crunch" became mainstream
• Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both lost billions of dollars and raised their loan pricing
• Fixed mortgage rates dipped below 6% for a brief period
• Over 80,000 workers in the mortgage industry have lost their jobs
• The housing market continued to slump
• The government introduced the FHA secure loan
• Second mortgages and HELOC's are now almost non existent
• The stock market rose over 6% for the year
• The value of the dollar continued to decline

So if you have survived the perfect storm, hang on as 2008 promises to be a roller coaster ride as well, we will preview some of the major stories we expect will unfold in the new year.

12-26-2007 © LoanNetwork.com

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