The level of agency mortgage securitizations moved lower last month, with a sharp drop at Freddie Mac outpacing the combined decline at its two counterparts. Ginnie Mae had the most issuance for the second month in a row.
Between Fannie Mae, Freddie and Ginnie, issuance of fixed-rate mortgage-backed securities totaled $105.578 billion during August.
Volume tumbled from the previous month, when $125.074 billion was issued on behalf of the trio of government-controlled housing finance agencies.
But activity accelerated compared to the same month last year, when combined fixed-rate issuance came to $85.151 billion.
Historical data from eMBS, which provides the monthly figures to Mortgage Daily, indicate that issuance during the first eight months of this year amounted to $831.895 billion.
Putting the biggest dent in monthly volume was Freddie, where fixed-rate issuance sank 30 percent from July to $26.459 billion. Freddie’s activity was up four percent from August 2014.
In the eight months ended Aug. 31, 2015, issuance at McLean, Virginia-based Freddie came to $234.716 billion.
At Washington-based Fannie, business dropped 14 percent from the previous month to $37.265 billion in August. Fannie’s activity was up 19 percent on a year-over-year basis.
Year-to-date volume at Fannie worked out to $317.171 billion.
The smallest month-over-month decline was at Ginnie, where a five percent drop left August 2015 issuance at $41.855 billion — the most of all three companies for the second consecutive month. The government-owned corporation’s issuance was up 47 percent from a year earlier.
So far this year, Washington-based Ginnie’s volume totaled $280.009 billion
