Just how bad is this housing market?

A reader writes:
"Thought you would like an interesting statistic from a friend who is a mortgage broker. In September he and his partner closed 6 loans between them. Their best months of 2005 they were closing 120-130...EACH. It is tough slogging for a lot of people these days."

Speaking with real estate attorneys and title searchers, I'd say they're not having any fun either.