National Mortgage News is reporting this morning that Capital One lending unit GreenPoint laid off a significant chunk of its workforce today amid continuing problems in the Alt-A lending market:

Subprime mortgage concerns that have tightened underwriting standards and diminished secondary market appetite in the neighboring “near prime” market have forced originator GreenPoint here to cut 440 staff positions and close 12 of its 41 operational centers, according to a company spokesperson.

I’m actually surprised by this, as I thought Alt-A had nominally recovered from its short slump. Apparently not.