This morning in the Wall Street Journal I read an article titled Mortgage Applications Surge on Falling Rates by Dan Fitzpatrick. In the article, Todd Chamberlain, head of the residential mortgage division at Birmingham, ALA based Region’s Financial Corp states:

Borrowers “are starting to say, ‘Wow, I can get this piece of property at this price, which is a fair amount lower than I could have gotten a year ago’”

I think this sentiment in general will definitively trigger the online advertising world to consolidate more rapidly than we’ve ever seen. I foresee a flurry of M&A activity early in 2009. There’s no reason to think that smart companies with tons of cash won’t go bargain hunting come January.