Fannie Mae's [1] book of business shrank again in April, continuing an uninterrupted streak of declines that started at the end of 2013.
According to the enterprise's volume summary report [2], the book's total value contracted in April at a compound negative growth rate of 2.7 percent. The latest drop brings the book's average year-to-date growth rate to -2.3 percent.
As of April 30, the book's value was an estimated $3.14 trillion.
The decline came from a drop in Fannie's gross mortgage portfolio, which shrank at a rate of 14.3 percent as sales and liquidations increased to offset a rise in purchase activity.
Meanwhile, total mortgage-backed securities and other guarantees also fell, owing to an increased annualized rate of liquidations.
As was the case at Freddie Mac [3], single-family serious delinquency in Fannie's portfolio fell in April, ending the month at a rate of 2.13 percent compared to 2.19 percent in March.
At the same time, the multifamily delinquency rate climbed back up to 0.11 percent from 0.10 percent previously. Multifamily delinquency has yo-yoed between those two values since November.
Fannie reported 11,321 loan modifications in April. Year-to-date, modifications at the GSE totaled 47,365.