Fannie Mae’s Book Sees Another Drop in August

Business at ""Fannie Mae"":http://www.fanniemae.com/portal/index.html took another tumble in August, marking the third straight month of declines for the company.

The GSE's book of business fell at a compound rate of 0.8 percent, a slower pace than -1.7 percent in July. Year-to-date, the book's average monthly growth rate was -1.1 percent as of the end of the month.

Fannie Mae estimates the book's value at $3.167 trillion, down a little more than $2 billion from the prior month.

The secondary market giant's gross mortgage portfolio continued to drop, though the rate of contraction was slower at 29.6 percent negative growth. The portfolio's growth rate was -32.4 percent in July, the fastest rate of shrinkage since January 2010. Year-to-date, the average monthly growth rate for the portfolio was -23.1 percent in August.

After improving slightly in July, new business acquisitions fell to $68.2 billion, the lowest level since April 2012.

Meanwhile, delinquency rates continued to improve. According to Fannie Mae, the single-family serious delinquency rate fell 9 basis points to 2.61 percent in August, while the multifamily rate was flat at 0.18 percent.

Fannie Mae completed 13,791 loan modifications in August. So far this year, the company has recorded 109,172 modifications.