Subprime Mess and the Mortgage Lead Market

Here's a study that needs some freakonomic attention. What effect did the influx of mortgage leads from unsolicited sources have to do with the subprime mortgage mess? Did the quality of mortgage leads have any bearing when broken down by source? Has anyone bothered to track the volume of mortgage-related email traffic over time to measure the effects on the industry?

If you look at what's in your inbox the way I do, you'll see echoes of the economy. Over the past couple of weeks, I've noticed a distinct drop in the number of mortgage lead offers.

Are solid prospects that much harder to come by? Are the mortgage lead sources drying up and blowing away?

Prior to the meltdown, I could count on getting up to half a dozen mortgage lead offers on any given weekday. Over the course of the summer, I've seen that number dwindle. If there are less and less offers for live leads going out, what might that say about the health of the industry?