Freddie Breaks Purchase Record -- Again

Freddie Mac acquired $91.22 billion in home mortgages during December, yet another record month for the secondary market giant.For the year, Freddie bought a record $642.3 billion in product, a 35% increase from the level recorded in 2001. Freddie's chief competitor, Fannie Mae, bought $1.09 trillion in mortgages in 2002, also a record. (Fannie's 2002 "business volume," a different way of measuring purchases, was $848 billion.) Freddie's purchase commitments were $26 billion in December, down from $29 billion in November, which means January's purchase volume will likely be weaker than in the previous month. Together, Fannie and Freddie bought about $1.7 trillion in product, which means the two gobbled up 65% of all loans originated in 2002. The market share number is based on an estimated $2.6 trillion in mortgage production. (The estimate comes from National Mortgage News.)