April new business purchases $48.4 billion
By MortgageDaily.com staff
5/26/2004

New business continued to increase at Freddie Mac, but the size of its investment portfolio has shrunk six months in a row.

Freddie's new business purchases climbed for the second consecutive month as the total rose to $48.4 billion in April from the previous month's $43.1 billion, according to its latest monthly volume summary. A year earlier, the total stood at $64.3 billion.

The government-sponsored enterprise said its total mortgage portfolio had an ending balance of $1.4 trillion, of which $800.6 billion consisted of net participation certificates. The remaining portion came from its retained portfolio, which fell for the sixth straight month at an annual rate of 7.8% in April to nearly $631.5 billion. The size of the investment, or retained, portfolio peaked at $655.5 billion at the end of October 2003.

The single-family 90-day delinquency rate was 0.83% in March, down 3 basis points from February, the McLean, Va., company reported. Meanwhile, the multifamily 60-day delinquency rate slipped 1 basis point to 0.06%. Delinquency is reported on a one-month lag.

April's duration gap reportedly averaged zero, unchanged since September.

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