Delinquencies on mortgages controlled by Freddie Mac rose to 3.58% in December, the highest reading in nine months for the GSE, and a sign that it likely will continue to post operating losses in the immediate quarters ahead.
The GSE reported Wednesday that its credit-enhanced delinquencies rose to 8.03% from 7.82% in November. A year ago the reading was 8.27%.
Credit enhanced delinquencies will be suffered by its mortgage insurance partners.
Late payments on Freddie-backed multifamily mortgages fell to a benign rate of 0.22% in December compared to 0.28% in November, and 0.26% in December 2010.
Meanwhile, the GSE bought $30.7 billion of loans from its seller/servicers in December, a 20% decline from November.
In December 2010 Freddie bought almost $50 billion worth of loans.
Freddie will report its 4Q operating results in February.
Mortgage funders are having a decent January, and 1Q production could turn out to be better than expected as small to medium sized originators pick up market share from Bank of America, and MetLife Home Loans, both of which are scaling back. MLHL is in the process of closing its ‘forward' origination business.
