As the mortgages it manages climbed closer to $3 trillion, Fannie Mae saw mixed results on its secondary marketing purchases and deterioration in its delinquency. Fannie also saw its duration gap jump.
New business acquisitions totaled $192.0 billion during the first quarter, the Washington, D.C.-based company said in its monthly summary. Activity fell from the fourth quarter’s $203.4 billion but was higher than $161.7 billion a year earlier.
For just the month of March, secondary purchases were $59.7 billion, tumbling from $78.4 billion in February and below $60.5 billion in March 2007, according to the report.
March commitments to purchase were $31.0 billion, up from $25.1 billion in February.
Fannie said its total book of business reached $2.970 trillion. The total consisted of an $0.723 trillion gross mortgage portfolio and outstanding mortgage-backed securities of $2.247 trillion.
Serious residential delinquency, which is reported on a one-month lag and includes loans past due at least three months, reached 1.10 percent on Feb. 28. On Jan. 31, delinquency was 1.06 percent while it was just 0.66 percent in February 2007.
Multifamily delinquency reportedly remained at 0.10 percent.
Fannie’s effective duration gap duration gap reached a positive three months on March 31, climbing from a positive two months in February and a negative one month a year earlier, the data indicated. The figure is weighted based on the proportional fair value weightings of Fannie’s assets and liabilities.
Rival government-sponsored enterprise Freddie Mac also reported an increase in its duration gap to a positive one month after sitting at zero since January 2005.
