Fannie Mae's mortgage purchase activity remained healthy in July but its commitments to purchase new mortgages from lenders fell to the lowest level in 14 months.
Fannie reported late last Friday afternoon that it acquired $73.4 billion in mortgages in July, up slightly from $72.6 billion in the month prior.
But commitments to purchase new mortgages fell 16% from June to $62.4 billion in July—the lowest level since April 2012.
The new report also shows the government-sponsored enterprise is making steady progress at reducing its mortgage investment portfolio. And its portfolio is shrinking at nearly twice the rate of Freddie Mac's.
Fannie's mortgage investments totaled $667 billion in July 1012 and it has fallen 18% to $547 billion as of July 31. In comparison, Freddie's investment portfolio has declined 9.5% over the previous 12 months to $521 billion in July. Both GSEs are under a directive from their federal regulator to reduce their investment portfolios.
Meanwhile, the serious delinquency rate on Fannie's guaranteed single-family portfolio fell seven basis points from June to 2.7% in July—to match
A year ago, 3.5% of Fannie's single-family loans were 30 days or more past due or in the foreclosure process.
