Mortgage lending business in freefall

National mortgage news are keeping a scorecard of lenders going under. So far, about 14 percent of the market has disappeared (measured as the last time each lender filed non-prime or prime origination figures with National Mortgage News). Most of the decline is due to New Century, who pulled down around 8 percent of the market.

Meanwhile, the mortgage implode-o-meter keeps rising remorselessly. Today, the reading is 45 lenders down, out and heading for bankruptcy.