Countrywide Financial Corp. said Thursday that its mortgage volume rose 15 percent in February to $31 billion from a year earlier despite repeated concerns of a downturn in the housing market.

February’s mortgage volume was down about 6 percent from January’s $33 billion, due to what the Calabasas-based residential mortgage lender said was “a result of typical seasonal effects.” Year-to-date mortgage loan fundings hit $64 billion.

Average daily mortgage applications rose 8 percent to $2.5 billion, and Countrywide’s loan pipeline or loans in process also increased 8 percent to $59 billion as of Feb. 28. Both numbers were up slightly from January’s $2.4 billion and $57 billion, respectively.

Mortgages that Countrywide purchased from others rose to $14 billion last month, an increase of 12 percent from the year-prior period. That brought the year-to-date purchase activity to $28 billion.

Countrywide Bank’s total assets also rose 71 percent from a year ago to $79 billion, which is $33 billion more than February 2005’s reported assets.

Shares of Countrywide fell 1.3 percent to settle at $34.38 on Thursday.