Freddie Mac reported this week that its total mortgage portfolio increased at an annualized rate of 6.3 percent in July, increasing from 5.3 percent the previous month. The portfolio balance at the end of the period was $2.251 trillion compared to $2.239 trillion at the end of June and $2.134 trillion a year earlier.
Purchases and Issuances totaled $46.087 billion and Sales were ($3.839) billion. The June numbers were $44.458 billion and ($2.770) billion respectively.
Single-family refinance loan purchase and guarantee volume was $13.8 billion in July, up from $12.7 billion in June and representing a 38 percent share of total single-family mortgage portfolio purchases and issuances compared to 36 percent the previous month.
Purchases in Freddie Mac's Mortgage Related Investments Portfolio totaled $41.421 billion for the month compared to $33.418 billion in June. Liquidations were ($2.581) billion and ($2.874) billion for July and June respectively and Sales for the two periods were ($36.956) and ($27.513) billion. The ending balance in the portfolio was $218.870 billion, down about $100 million from June. The annualized growth rate was a decline of 0.6 percent compared to 16.8 percent growth in June and 39.3 percent a year earlier.
The ending balance of the Mortgage Related Investments Portfolio was composed of $123.002 billion in Mortgage Related Securities, Mortgage Loans valued at $88.184 billion, Non-Agency, non-Freddie Mac Mortgage-Related Securities at $1.978 billion; and Agency non-Freddie Mac Mortgage related securities of $5.706 billion. Mortgage related securities and other guarantee commitments increased at an annualized rate of 7.1 percent compared to 4.1 percent the previous month.
Freddie Mac's single-family delinquency rate dropped 2 basis points to 0.61 percent in June. In July 2018 the rate was 0.78 percent. The rate for credit-enhanced Primary Mortgage Insurance loans was unchanged at 0.76 percent and the non-credit portion fell 3 basis points to 0.73 percent. The multi-family delinquency rate was 0.03 percent for the fifth straight month compared to 0.01 percent in July 2018.
Freddie Mac said the measure of its exposure to changes in portfolio value averaged $54 million in July, down from $60 million in June. The duration gap was unchanged at an average of 1 month. The elevated interest-rate exposure measures were due to the inclusion of Single-Family upfront fees risk into the company's asset and liability management strategy.
