Countrywide defaults still rising
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Countrywide Financial’s monthly report on loan activity shows a continued deterioration in housing: rising levels of delinquency and default.
Doing the foreclosure math: According to Reuters, Countrywide services 9.02 million mortgages and reports 1.05% are ‘pending foreclosures.’ That is, by my math, 94,700 foreclosures.
There were signs, however of increased mortage activity. From Reuters via CNBC: Countrywide ‘... also said average daily mortgage application volume surged 72% from December and mortgage loans being processed rose 46%. This suggests homeowners are taking advantage of lower interest rates to refinance.’ One analyst calls this a ‘modest re-fi wave.’
Overall mortgage fundings continued to drop in January, though. Countrywide said it funded $21.9 billion of home loans in January, which is down 41% from year-ago levels and down 6% from December levels.
| Month | Mortgage Fundings | Delinquencies* | Foreclosures** |
| March 07 | $43.2 B | 4.29% | 0.69% |
| April 07 | $40.5 B | 4.45% | 0.69% |
| May 07 | $44.4 B | 4.71% | 0.71% |
| June 07 | $45.3 B | 4.98% | 0.74% |
| July 07 | $39.1 B | 5.10% | 0.79% |
| August 07 | $34.4 B | 5.05% | 0.89% |
| Sept. 07 | $21.2 B | 5.87% | 0.92% |
| Oct. 07 | $22.0 B | 5.89% | 0.89% |
| Nov. 07 | $23.1 B | 6.34% | 0.94% |
| Dec. 07 | $23.4 B | 6.96% | 1.04% |
| Jan. 08 | $21.9 B | 7.09% | 1.05% |
*Delinquencies as percentage of number of loans serviced
**Foreclosures as percentage of number of loans serviced
Thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com
Photo credit: Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo, L.A. Times