Calabasas, California-based Countrywide Financial Corp. reported Tuesday that mortgage loan fundings for the month of October, as well as the company’s average daily mortgage loan application activity, fell last month when compared to the same period in 2006.

More specifically, the lending giant said mortgage loan fundings in October hit $22 billion—a 48-percent decline from October of last year. Meanwhile, average daily mortgage loan application activity hit $1.8 billion—a 34-percent decrease from October of 2006. And, the company says, “The mortgage loan pipeline was $41 billion at October 31, 2007, as compared to $61 billion for the same period last year.”
Countrywide leaders believe current market conditions have something to do with the decreases.
“October’s operating results continue to be indicative of current market trends,” asserted Countrywide’s President and Chief Operating Officer David Sambol. “Total fundings were down substantially on a year-over-year basis, but were up 4-percent from the prior month, and production funded through the bank has now surpassed 90-percent of total fundings. Average daily applications and the mortgage loan pipeline were essentially flat from the prior month. At $42 million, subprime fundings for the month of October 2007 were just 0.2-percent of total mortgage loan fundings.”