At the height of the financial collapse, mortgage businesses were dropping like flies. In 2009, 235 mortgage-related businesses were shuttered. In 2010, 210 more mortgage-related businesses closed their doors permanently.

Since then, the mortgage business has been recovering. Closings have dropped from 140 in 2011, to 83 in 2012, to 62 last year. And now, mortgage-related business closings are on pace to reach the lowest level since 2006, when there were only 32 closings.

According to data from Mortgage Daily, there were 13 mortgage-related businesses that either failed or closed in the first quarter of 2014. That figure is down two from the first quarter of 2013.

The year-over-year decline reflects a drop in credit union failures. The first quarter of 2014 saw six nonbank closures, five FDIC bank failures and two credit union failures. In 2013, there were five credit union failures in Q1.

But even with the closings continuing a downward trend at a pace of 52 for 2014, that figure is still significantly above 1999’s low of five closings.

While mortgage-related closings are trending down, mortgage-related mergers and acquisitions are increasing. During the first quarter, there were 18 acquisitions. In 2013, there were only 32 total mergers and acquisitions involving mortgage-related businesses.

In 2009, when mortgage-related businesses closings were at their highest level, mergers and acquisitions were also at their highest level, with 61 M&A’s tracked. If Q1’s pace continues, it will shatter 2009’s record.

The lowest amount of M&A’s took place in 1999 when there were only two.