Freddie Mac Delinquences Continue to Climb. Retained Portfolio Contracts
Delinquencies among loans guaranteed by Freddie Mac continued to rise in January according to the Monthly Volume Summary issued last week. At the same time, the Enterprise's investment portfolio continued to contract.
Loans over 90 days delinquent increased to 4.03 percent of all loans during January compared to 3.87 percent in December. The delinquency rate in January 2009 was 1.98 percent. The non-credit enhanced portion of the portfolio had a January delinquency rate of 3.13 percent compared to 3.0 percent in December while the credit-enhanced portion had a rate of 8.52 percent compared to 8.17 percent. The percentage of delinquencies in the multi-family portfolio was unchanged at 0.15 percent.
Loans more than 120 days delinquent represented 2.59 percent of Freddie Mac's total fixed rate portfolio and 13.10 percent of the company's adjustable rate mortgages. The unpaid principal balances of these loans total$71.5 billion.
The value of Freddie Mac's Investment portfolio declined during the month to $743.7 billion from $755.3 billion in December, an annualized rate of 18.4 percent. That portfolio declined by 6.1 percent during 2009. The portfolio components in January compared to (December) were as follows: PCs and Structured Securities, $366.92 million ($374.6 million); Non-Freddie Mac Agency Securities, $64.44 million ($66.17 million); Non-Freddie Mac Non-Agency Securities, $173.98 million ($175.67 million); Mortgage Loans, $138.36 million ($138.82 million).
The company entered into a net amount of mortgage-related investments portfolio mortgage purchase (sale) agreements of $238.0 million in January, down from $2.62 million in December.
Freddie Mac also announced today that it will cease purchasing and securitizing interest only mortgages effective on or about September 1, 2010. This will include Freddie Mac Initial InterestSM fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgages. These mortgages provide for interest-only payments for a specified period of time beginning with the first monthly payment after the note date, and principal and interest payments on a fully amortizing basis for the remainder of the mortgage term. READ MORE
On Wednesday the company released its 4th Quarter and full-year 2009 financial report which said it had lost $7.8 billion during the fourth quarter and 21.6 billion during the entire year, a substantial drop from the $50.1 billion it lost in 2008.