[stylin19a]

..it funded $40 billion of mortgage loans in August, a decrease of 24 percent from the same month last year.....

But last month's lending volume was an increase from July, when Countrywide funded $36 billion of loans.

So, why doesn't the headline read "Mortgage Loans funded in August increase 11% over July" ?

Pinging ping lists

sky is falling upwards - ping !
no money left - ping!
still can't get it right - ping !
house sitting empty - ping !

[Montana4Jesus]

Because the mortgage industry doesn't measure itself month over month, Instead we look at month over same month last year. There are serious fluctuations in mortgage origination volumes month to month and July is typically a down month due to vacations. August is usually one of the biggest months of the year but August 2006 saw a substantial drop in volume indusrty wide vs last year.