American Home Reports 4Q Earnings Dive

American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., Melville, N.Y., has reported net earnings of $16.7 million ($0.27 per share) for the fourth quarter, compared with adjusted net earnings of $48.6 million ($1.14 per share) a year earlier.For the full year, the company reported adjusted net earnings of $189.4 million ($3.97 per share), compared with $146.3 million ($3.74 per share) in 2004. "During the fourth quarter, our company's income was negatively impacted by low gain-on-sale margins due to poor market conditions for whole-loan sales at the end of the quarter," said Michael Strauss, American Home's chief executive officer. ".... In addition, credit spread widening and continued high repayment speeds caused writedowns of our junior mortgage securities, our inventory of newly originated loans, and our pipeline of locked loan applications." The company can be found online at http://www.americanhm.com.