After surging in the second quarter, mortgage fraud case activity sank in the third quarter based on the Third Quarter 2010 Mortgage Fraud Index from Mortgage Daily. The Mortgage Fraud Index came in at 1007 during the third quarter – falling 41 percent from the second quarter. The index hasn’t been this low since the first quarter 2008, when it was just 713.
The latest index reflected 151 criminal and civil cases with activity from July 1 to Sept. 30. On a dollar basis, the cases totaled $1.9 billion.
| Period | Mortgage Fraud Index | Amount | # Cases | |
| Q3 2010 | 1007 | $1,850,531,120 | 151 | |
| Q2 2010 | 1699 | $2,248,657,052 | 266 | |
| Q3 2009 | 1322 | $1,539,023,005 | 211 | |
“During the previous quarter, case activity leapt as the Obama administration’s Operation Stolen Dreams focused government resources on mortgage fraud,” said MortgageDaily.com Publisher Sam Garcia. “But as the media blitz subsided, third-quarter case activity sank.”
The average case size jumped to $12.3 million from the second quarter’s $8.5 million.
Florida had the highest state index: 143. Still, it was an improvement from 213 during the second quarter.
A newcomer to the top-five, Connecticut, saw its index rise to 47 from 30 three months earlier.
Top States by Index
| State | Index | |
| Florida | 143 | |
| California | 100 | |
| New York | 70 | |
| Pennsylvania | 50 | |
| Connecticut | 47 | |
Based on the dollar amount of mortgage fraud cases, Washington’s $556 million was more than in any other state. A single case involving a former senior vice president at Pierce Commercial Bank accounted for $495 million of the state’s activity.
In North Carolina, a single case — the Waxhouse Investigation — accounted for around $42 million of activity.
Top States by Amount
| State | Amount | |
| Washington | $555,800,000 | |
| Michigan | $247,600,000 | |
| California | $199,253,796 | |
| New York | $154,400,000 | |
| Florida | $110,333,006 | |
| North Carolina | $77,156,050 | |
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