After rising the prior two months, Countrywide Financial Corp.'s mortgage volume edged down during July.

Last month's mortgage fundings of $44 billion were off about $3 billion from June, the Calabasas, Calif.-based lender announced Wednesday. However, the volume was way above the $30 billion a year ago.

The correspondent division contributed over $18 billion to the latest volume, consumer markets aggregated more than $12 billion and the wholesale unit added $7 billion, according to the announcement. Capital Markets and Treasury Bank originations accounted for the rest.

Purchase volume for the month totaled $21 billion and adjustable-rate loan fundings reached $23 billion, Countrywide said.

Home equity production reportedly amounted to $3.6 billion in July, while nonprime loan originations totaled $3.7 billion.

The mortgage pipeline of $77 billion at the end of July was unchanged from the previous month, the lender reported.

The servicing portfolio grew to $991 billion and is "poised to exceed the $1 trillion mark, which positions the servicing sector to perform well in a rising rate environment," said Countrywide President and Chief Operating Officer Stanford Kurland in the announcement.

Kurland pointed out that Countrywide expanded its lead as the No. 1 mortgage originator and servicer at the end of the second quarter, with its origination share reaching 15.6 percent and servicing share increasing to 11.4 percent.