Business Continues to Slip at Freddie Mac

""Freddie Mac's"":http://www.freddiemac.com/ total mortgage portfolio continued to shrink in February, contracting at an annualized rate of 4.1 percent.

February saw approximately $42.9 billion in purchases and issuances for the mortgage giant, slightly down from $43.1 billion in January and about 20.5 percent above last February's $35.6 billion.

However, nearly $50 billion of business was sold or liquidated, resulting in a net $6.7 billion decrease.

As of the end of February, the portfolio's ending balance was about $1.94 trillion, down from $1.95 trillion previously.

Freddie Mac's record of mortgage-related securities and other guarantees also shrank, declining at an annualized rate of 0.9 percent (compared to January's negative rate of 2.5 percent).

Single-family refinance-loan purchase and guarantee volume was $35.1 billion, representing 82 percent of total mortgage portfolio purchases or issuances. Relief refinance mortgages comprised about 30 percent of February's total refinance volume based on unpaid principal balance.

At the same time, single-family delinquency decline, falling from a rate of 3.20 percent in January to 3.15 percent in February. The multifamily delinquency rate fell as well, dropping to 0.16 percent from 0.18 percent previously.

6,686 loan modifications were performed in February, bringing the year-to-date total to 14,102.