Countrywide Financial ranked as the top producer of both home-purchase mortgages and refinance loans during 2004, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking. Despite generally higher interest rates in 2004, refinance activity remained a huge part of the market, accounting for 51.7 percent of all mortgage originations. Countrywide was the top producer in this market, reporting $186.5 billion of refinance loans, or 12.8 percent of the overall market. …