Fannie Mae Mortgage-Backed Security Issuance Rises 44%

Fannie Mae issuance of mortgage-backed securities jumped 44% in June from the previous month but the mortgage giant did not report its monthly purchases of refinanced loans. Fannie saw new MBS issuance of $97.7 billion in June, up from $67.7 billion in May. This jump is most likely due to high refinancing volumes, but there are no numbers to support this as the mortgage giant omitted data on its purchases of refinanced loans in its monthly report. Freddie Mac reported earlier that its issuance of MBS in June jumped 40% and its purchases of refinanced loans were up 26% from May. The GSE regulator said on Thursday that Fannie and Freddie have refinanced over 2 million loans since March 31 and 56,000 of those loans were through the Obama administration's Home Affordable Refinancing Program. HARP is designed to help borrowers with underwater mortgages that can't qualify for regular refinancing programs. Meanwhile, delinquencies continue to creep up at the GSE. Single-family loans 90 days or more past due or in foreclosure rose by 26 basis points to 3.68% in June from the month before. A year ago, just 1.3% of single-family loans were severely delinquent or in foreclosure.