August 1, 2007 (LPAC)--Another U.S. mortgage lender, IndyMac, showed signs of heart failure, posting a 57% drop in second-quarter profits as bad loans jumped 342%. IndyMac specializes in alt-A loans, a type of mortgage which allows little documentation of income and assets. This follows the death tremors of the twelfth largest U.S. lender, American Home Mortgage, which ended trading on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday following announcement of insolvency.

Meanwhile, the commercial real estate market is about to take a hit from the credit seize-up. Private equity buyouts of real estate investment trusts are already slowing, as banks have raised the interest rates on such deals, the Wall Street Journal reports.