Mortgage-related job losses continued to mount, reaching the highest level in six years. But layoffs are quickly slowing.

Mortgage Daily tracked nearly 22,000 layoffs for its Fourth Quarter 2013 Mortgage Employment Index.

Layoffs were 24% worse than the third quarter and 810% more than a year earlier.  

Mortgage layoffs during the fourth-quarter 2013 exceeded hirings by 18,797.

Net job activity has deteriorated for three consecutive quarters and was the worst quarter since 2007.

"Mortgage lenders and servicers continued to adjust staffing levels to account for dwindling refinance activity and fewer distressed loans," said Mortgage Daily Founder and Publisher Sam Garcia. "But despite the dismal numbers, early indications are that mortgage layoffs have turned sharply lower in the first quarter of this year."

For all of 2013, mortgage staffing declined by 31,931 employees -- the worst year since 2008.

In California, there were 2,997 more layoffs than hirings in the fourth quarter.-- a bigger loss than any other state.

At the other end of the spectrum was Indiana, where jobs expanded by more than 300.

The three biggest mortgage lenders in the country experienced the most fourth-quarter job losses.

Three growing companies -- Stonegate Mortgage, Walter Investment and United Shore Financial -- were among the five firms with the biggest gains.