Tag Archives: Delinquency

Freddie Mac’s mortgage portfolio has declined in each of the first three months of this year with the fastest annualized decline in March, according to the GSE’s latest monthly volume summary. Freddie’s mortgage portfolio declined at an annualized rate of 2.9 percent in March. The last time the GSE’s portfolio grew was in December, when it demonstrated an annualized growth rate of 0.4 percent.

Fannie Mae reported further contraction in its book of business for February—the second this year and the third in as many months—as new business acquisitions dropped to a five-year low. According to the enterprise’s monthly volume summary for February, business shrank at a compound annual rate of 1.4 percent, bringing the book’s total growth rate for the year to -2.4 percent.

Freddie Mac’s book of business declined during both of the first two months of this year with an annualized growth rate of -2.2 percent during the month of February, according to the GSE’s monthly volume summary. Year-to-date, the annualized growth rate for Freddie Mac’s portfolio is -2.0 percent, on par with the growth rate of -2.1 percent reported for the year in 2013.

Freddie Mac released Wednesday its first Multi-Indicator Market Index, a gauge of market stability based on current levels of purchase applications, payment-to-income ratios, on-time mortgage payments, and employment. Based on a neutral, stable "0" point, the market in January sat at a score of -3.08, according to the index. However, that's still an improvement compared to the prior month and year.

Recovery in the housing market is stumbling back to solid ground, thanks to a rise in home prices and existing home sales, as well as a drop in foreclosures, according to the latest Housing Barometer report released Wednesday by Trulia. However, growth in these sectors is dragging disproportionally weaker growth in young adult employment and stagnation in the new home construction sector in its wake.

In two reports issued separately Monday, Wells Fargo's Economics Group explores two promising trends that both indicate a positive climate for economic growth. The first report follows FDIC loan performance, noting cyclical improvement in loan performance and a trend favorable for credit quality. The second report comments on underwriting practices, noting ongoing relaxing in standards.

The new year didn’t bring any new trends in Fannie Mae’s Book of Business, which shrank at an annualized rate of 3.5 percent in January. While business was down, delinquency rates, too, kept declining. According to the GSE, the single-family serious delinquency rate dropped 5 basis points to 2.33 percent in January, while the multifamily serious delinquency rate was flat at 0.10 percent.

After a slight uptick in December, the annualized growth rate of Freddie Mac's mortgage portfolio dipped back into the negatives in January, with growth clocking in a rate of -1.9 percent. The GSE's monthly volume summary notes the unpaid principal balance (UPB) of mortgage-related investments decreased by approximately $7.1 billion in January.

Freddie Mac's mortgage business grew--albeit slowly--in December, capping the year with an overall negative growth rate.

Following a year of fast-paced appreciation, Fitch Ratings expects home price gains to slow to a more moderate pace in 2014 in the United States.