Countrywide boosts June loan production by 4%

Countrywide Financial Corp. managed to make $45 billion in mortgage loans in June -- a 4 percent increase over the same month last year, despite "increasingly challenging" market conditions, the company said. Although Countrywide made significant cutbacks in funding of subprime and adjustable-rate mortgages, delinquencies and foreclosures are up sharply from last year. Foreclosures pending as a percentage of unpaid principle balance have more than doubled in the last 12 months, to .96 percent, the company said. That compares with .45 percent in June 2006. Delinquencies as a percentage of unpaid principal balance stood at 4.77 percent, compared with 3.4 percent last year. "The housing market continues to soften, and delinquencies and defaults continue to rise," said David Sambol, Countrywide president and chief operating officer, in a statement accompanying the release of numbers for June. "Additionally, interest rates, price competition in the residential lending marke...