After sinking steadily for the last 10 months, new business activity has picked up a bit for Freddie Mac [1]—though that didn't stop its portfolio from shrinking again.
The mortgage giant released Wednesday its volume summary for April [2], recording a negative annualized growth rate of 3.0 percent for its total mortgage portfolio. It was the highest rate of contraction since October, when the portfolio shrank at a rate of 6.4 percent.
Purchases and issuances last month totaled $19.9 billion, turning around following months of declines that culminated in a low of $15.1 billion in March. Compared to last year, April business remained down approximately 58 percent.
At the same time, sales and liquidations both increased, wiping out the monthly gain in business and bringing down the portfolio's ending balance, which was estimated at just less than $1.9 trillion as of April 30.
Meanwhile, credit quality continued to improve for the single-family market. Freddie Mac reported the serious delinquency rate among its single-family mortgages was down to 2.15 percent in April from 2.20 percent in March.
The multifamily delinquency rate was up slightly, edging upward to 0.05 percent.
Single-family refinance-loan purchase and guarantee volume was $8.8 billion in April, representing 47 percent of Freddie's single-family portfolio purchases or issuances. Relief refinances made up approximately 28 percent of that activity, based on unpaid principal balance.