August Business Sinks at Freddie Mac

""Freddie Mac's"":http://www.freddiemac.com/ mortgage portfolio shrank in August at the fastest rate so far this year.

The portfolio contracted at an annualized rate of 5.0 percent, turning down further from July's -1.7 percent growth rate. Year-to-date, the portfolio's average monthly growth rate is -1.7 percent.

For the year's first eight months, business has fallen in five and grown in three. Until the most recent report, the portfolio's worst month was January, when the growth rate was -4.8 percent.

As of the end of August, the book's ending balance was $1.93 trillion.

New business also declined to its lowest level this year, with purchases and issuances totaling roughly $36.0 billion. Through August, new business for all of 2013 has totaled $354.3 billion.

Multifamily new business volume was $1.8 billion for the month and $17.8 billion year-to-date.

Meanwhile, Freddie Mac's portfolio of mortgage-related securities and other guarantees did a little better than in August, though growth was still weak at an annual rate of 2.3 percent.

Single-family refinance loan purchase and guarantee volume was $20.8 billion in August, representing 63 percent of total single-family mortgage portfolio purchases or issuances, the mortgage giant reported. Relief refinance mortgages made up 33 percent of total single-family refinance volume.

Freddie Mac's single-family seriously delinquent rate fell to 2.64 percent from July's 2.70 percent. The multifamily delinquency rate also dropped, coming in at 0.05 percent.

The GSE reported 7,502 loan modifications in August, bringing the year-to-date count to 53,746.