After falling to levels not seen in at least a decade, new business at the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. deteriorated further. Loan performance, on the other hand, is at its best in five years.
The McLean, Va.-based company previously reported $17.009 billion in purchases and issuances during February.
Mortgage Daily has collected monthly operational data for Freddie Mac since February 2001, and business has never been this slow during that period.
On Thursday, the secondary lender reported a further drop in business last month — to $15.112 billion.
March 2014 was just a shadow of March 2013, when Freddie generated $52.009 billion in purchases and issuances.
Volume totaled just $52.419 billion during the first three months of this year, tumbling from $70.476 billion in the fourth-quarter 2013 and plunging from $137.978 billion in the first-quarter 2013.
Freddie’s total mortgage portfolio finished March at $1.9035 trillion, falling from $1.9082 trillion at the end of February and $1.9483 trillion at the same point in 2013.
The last time the mortgage portfolio was this small was in March 2007, when it stood at $1.8921 trillion.
The March 31, 2014, total reflected an $0.4344 trillion investment portfolio and $1.4691 trillion in mortgage-related securities and other guarantee commitments.
Freddie reported 90-day residential delinquency at 2.20 percent, 9 basis points better than in February. The rate has dropped 83 BPS compared to March 2013.
The last time the rate of late payments on home loans was this low was in February 2009, when the rate was 2.13 percent.
Freddie’s delinquency rate has not risen since September 2012, when it stood at 3.37 percent.
On the commercial real estate side of the business, multifamily delinquency of at least 60 days closed out the first quarter at 0.04 percent, 1 basis point better than in February and 12 BPS below March 2013.
Multifamily delinquency was last this low in January 2009, when the rate was 0.03 percent.
