Fannie Buys Break $100MM, but Portfolio Shrinks

Fannie Mae acquired a record-breaking $114.1 billion in mortgages during October, its best purchase month ever, although its portfolio shrank once again.(National Mortgage News/MortgageWire measures Fannie's purchases by adding its portfolio purchases and its "total lender originated MBS.") Fannie measures its monthly purchases through a data point called "business volume." The company's business volume in October also set a new record -- $95.1 billion, a $16 billion improvement from that of September, which was also a great month. Retained commitments at the secondary giant increased to a record $67.3 billion, which means November's purchase figures will be stellar as well. However, October's data set reveals that the company's mortgage portfolio actually shrank in October (by 0.1%) from September's level, and that its portfolio also shrank back in June (compared with May) by 0.5%. Fannie Mae reduced its duration gap to negative-six months in October, compared with negative-10 the previous month.