Countrywide released operational results for last month this morning, revealing a small improvement from October in terms of both loans funded and loan origination volume, though still far below 2006 levels.
Mortgage loan fundings for the month of November totaled $23 billion, a 40 percent decline from November 2006, but 5 percent better than the previous month.
Average daily mortgage loan application activity for November was 1.9 billion, representing a 32 percent decrease from November 2006, but 6 percent better than the month prior.
The mortgage loan pipeline was valued at $43 billion as of November 30, 2007, compared to $62 billion for the same period last year.
“Our total mortgage loan fundings were up 5 percent from the prior month, while average daily applications and the mortgage pipeline were up 6 percent and 4 percent, respectively, from October levels,” said David Sambol, President and Chief Operating Officer.
The yearly decline is attributed to a substantial drop in both subprime lending and adjustable-rate fundings, the mortgage lender‘s bread and butter.
Subprime mortgage fundings plummeted to a mere $17 million in November, down from $3.06 billion a year earlier, while adjustable-rate fundings fell to $3.33 billion from $14.3 billion.
Sambol also noted that third-party originated fundings, or those initiated by correspondents and mortgage brokers, have decreased, while retail and government originations (FHA loans, VA loans) continue to rise.
“Origination mix continues to shift as third-party originated fundings as a percent of total mortgage loan fundings have decreased year-over-year and retail fundings as a percent of total have increased. In addition, government fundings represented 10 percent of total mortgage loan fundings in November 2007 versus 3 percent in November 2006.”
Countrywide’s mission to boost deposits at its retail banks seems to be on track, with total deposits up from both last month’s totals and year-ago totals.
“Retail deposits at Countrywide Bank continued to grow during the month, and totaled $31 billion at the end of November, up from $29 billion last month and $24 billion at the end of November 2006,” Sambol said.
“Our plan to have nearly 200 financial centers open by year-end is on track with 170 up and running at the end of November.”
Countrywide’s delinquency rate also inched up to 6.34 percent in November from 5.89 percent in October, while the volume of foreclosures rose to 1.28 percent from 1.23 percent a month earlier.
Shares of Countrywide were down 49 cents, or 4.65%, to $10.04 in midday trading on Wall Street.