Refinancing activity pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's issuance of mortgage-backed securities in November to the highest levels since the summer of 2009, according to the monthly activity reports the GSEs released Thursday morning.
Fannie issued $73.4 billion in MBS, up 5.3% from October. It marks the highest level of issuance since July 2009 when Fannie sold $76.7 billion in MBS.
Freddie reported MBS issuance of $40.7 billion in November, up 6.4 % from October. Freddie's previous high was in August 2009 when it issued $47.5 billion in MBS.
Freddie said it purchased or guaranteed $38 billion in refinanced single-family loans in November, compared to $31.1 billion in the prior month. Fannie did not report its refinance volume.
For most of the year, the serious delinquency rate on Freddie's single-family portfolio has trended downward. But that has stopped in the last two months. The secondary market agency said the percentage of loans 90-days or more past due has risen 5 basis points from September to 3.85% in November.
Fannie reported that 4.52% of its single-family loans were 90-days or more past due in October, down 4 bps from September. (The GSE has a one-month lag in reporting delinquencies.) Fannie's serious delinquency rate peaked in February 2010 at 5.59%.
