Monthly purchases sank, delinquency delved further into record territory and losses skyrocketed at the Federal National Mortgage Association.
January’s new business acquisitions at Fannie Mae were $55.0 billion, according to an operational summary released today. Volume tumbled from $71.9 billion in December to the lowest level since February 2009 but was well above $28.8 billion a year earlier.
The Washington, D.C.-based company’s huge book of business fell around $14 billion from the end of last year to $3.2269 trillion on Jan. 31. The total included a gross mortgage portfolio of $0.7352 trillion and outstanding mortgage-backed securities of $2.4917 trillion.
Residential delinquency of at least 90 days, which the government-controlled enterprise reports on a one-month delay, was a record 5.38 percent on Dec. 31, increasing from a record 5.29 percent a month earlier and 2.42 percent a year earlier.
Multifamily delinquency of at least 60 days fell to 0.63 percent from November’s 0.66 percent. Apartment delinquency was 0.30 percent in December 2008.
The poor monthly results were preceded by Fannie’s announcement last week that it had a $15.4 billion fourth-quarter loss before taxes, not quite as bad as the $19.0 billion third-quarter loss. But the loss forced Fannie to turn to the U.S. Department of the Treasury for another $15.3 billion in life support capital.
The full-year loss was a whopping $73 billion before taxes, worse than $45 billion in 2008.
