Countrywide Wants Servicing Share To Lag Behind Its Origination Volume.

New York -- Never shy about publicizing its growth targets, Countrywide Financial Corp. now says it hopes to control nearly 30% of the home loan production market and 20% of the mortgage servicing market by 2010.

And if that seems unrealistic, Countrywide's chief financial officer pointed to the company's dramatic gains in market share over the last five years as evidence that Countrywide can attain its goals.

In 2005, Countrywide produced $491 billion of home loans, a single-company record for the mortgage industry. That was $99 billion more than the second biggest lender last year, Wells Fargo.

Countrywide's 2005 volume accounted for nearly 16% of the whole loan origination market.

By way of comparison, Countrywide's $62 billion in volume in 2000, five years earlier, accounted for 5.9% of the loan origination market. CFO Eric Sieriacki said that over the past five years, Countrywide's gain in market share accounts for 49% of the total gain achieved by the top 10 mortgage lenders.

The company's servicing market gains have been similarly impressive. In 2000, Countrywide serviced $285 billion of home loans, accounting for 5.6% of mortgage debt outstanding. At the end of 2005, Countrywide serviced more than $1.1 trillion, for a market share of 12.1%, he said.

In the servicing arena, Countrywide's growth accounts for 72% of the market share gain achieved by the top 10, Mr. Sieriacki said during a Piper Jaffray financial services conference here.