Fannie Has Strong August

Fannie Mae's business activity continued at a strong pace in August with $16.8 billion of commitments, $14.3 billion of mortgage purchases, and $27.1 billion of MBS issues.Net commitments to purchase mortgages grew over 75% from the previous month when Fannie committed to buy $12.8 billion. Fannie's net mortgage portfolio grew by $7.2 billion in August to $367.2 billion, an annualized growth rate of 23.9% compared with 36.9% in July. The year-to-date annualized net mortgage portfolio growth rate was 24.1%. Purchases of $14.3 billion were down slightly in August over July when the GSE bought $17.3 billion. Portfolio liquidations were $6.6 billion in August compared to $6.7 billion in July. Total MBS outstanding increased by $10.5 billion in August to reach $784.4 billion, a 16.3% annualized growth rate compared with 19.7% in July. MBS issues were $27.1 billion in August compared with $28.8 billion in July. MBS liquidations were $16.5 billion in August compared with $16.3 billion in July. Fannie Mae's net interest margin decreased by 3 basis points to 104 basis points in August. The conventional single-family at-risk serious delinquency rate declined for the fifth consecutive month to 0.56% in July, down from 0.54% in June and 0.64% in February. The conventional multi-family at-risk serious delinquency rate was 0.38% in July compared with 0.36 percent in June. Fannie's website is at http://www.fanniemae.com.