Fannie Purchases Jump; Portfolio Down

Fannie Mae acquired $70.6 billion in mortgages during September, by far the best purchase month of the year for the government-sponsored enterprise.However, the mortgage giant -- which is dealing with an $11 billion accounting scandal -- saw its retained portfolio drop 20% to $727.8 billion. (The comparison is with portfolio numbers from the same month last year.) During September, Fannie Mae out-purchased its chief rival, Freddie Mac, by about $8 billion. Even though Fannie bought more loans than Freddie, the difference between their retained portfolios is down to just $43 billion: $727 billion for Fannie, and $684 billion for "little brother" Freddie. Fannie Mae can be found online at http://www.fanniemae.com.