It’s been a few years since home-loan delinquency improved at the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., but last month marked an end to that streak. Secondary business, meanwhile, also improved — though activity remains stifled compared to last year.
Purchases and issuances edged up to $31.0 billion during March, operational data released today by Freddie Mac indicated. February volume was lower at $29.2 billion, but last month’s secondary purchases were less than half of March 2009’s level of $86.1 billion.
First-quarter activity totaled $96.8 billion, off from the prior quarter’s $104.2 billion and sinking from $147.8 billion one year prior.
Freddie’s total mortgage portfolio fell to $2.2257 trillion from $2.2426 trillion on Feb. 28. The March 31 total included an $0.7533 trillion mortgage portfolio and $1.4723 trillion in outstanding participation certificates.
Residential delinquency of at least 90 days — which had been climbing to a new record every month lately — turned lower. The delinquency rate fell to 4.13 percent from 4.20 percent a month earlier. The last time delinquency declined at Freddie was in May 2007, when it fell to a revised 0.40 percent from 0.49 percent in April 2007.
Still, late payments remain elevated compared to 2.41 percent a year earlier.
Multifamily delinquency of at least 60 days also edged lower — to 0.24 percent from February’s 0.25 percent. But apartment delinquency remains at twice the level of March 2009, when it stood at 0.12 percent.
