A preliminary analysis of third quarter earnings data indicates residential mortgage originations fell 19.19 percent from the second quarter, according to http://www.mortgagedaily.com/ -- a dominant source of online news for the mortgage industry.

Countrywide Financial Corp. reported $95 billion third quarter production -- sinking from $130.2 billion the prior quarter. Despite the decline, the lender still ranks as the biggest in the country. Countrywide said it serviced about 9 million loans for $1.46 trillion as of Sept. 30. http://www.mortgagedaily.com/CountrywideProduction101107.asp?spcode=pr

Wells Fargo & Co. came in next with $68 billion in reported fundings. The San Francisco-based company saw its volume decline 15 percent from the prior period. Wells' residential servicing portfolio ended the quarter at around $1.32 trillion. http://www.mortgagedaily.com/WellsProduction101607.asp?spcode=pr

The No. 3 spot went to JPMorgan Chase & Co., which announced mortgage production was $50 billion -- declining from $58.7 billion the prior quarter. JPMorgan's third party mortgage servicing portfolio was $600.0 billion, according to the data. http://www.mortgagedaily.com/JpMorganProduction101707.asp?spcode=pr

The following ranking reflects the biggest mortgage lenders by third quarter 2007 originations, including residential mortgage production and home equity loan fundings:

      Rank                 Company                 Production

  1.                   Countrywide                 $94.6 billion
  2.                   Wells Fargo                 $68.0 billion
  3.                   Chase Home Finance          $50.4 billion
  4.                   Bank of America             $48.0 billion
  5.                   CitiMortgage                $36.6 billion

This table reflects the biggest mortgage lenders by residential servicing portfolio size as of Sept. 30, 2007:

      Rank                 Company                 Servicing Portfolio

  1.                   Countrywide                 $1.46 trillion
  2.                   Wells Fargo                 $1.32 trillion
  3.                   Chase Home Finance          $0.60 trillion
  4.                   CitiMortgage                $0.58 trillion
  5.                   Bank of America             $0.38 trillion

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Source: MortgageDaily.com

Web site: http://www.mortgagedaily.com/