Mortgage purchases by Freddie Mac fell 15% from July to $36 billion in August, the lowest level since December.
The government-sponsored enterprise reported Thursday that refinancings totaled $20.8 billion of mortgage purchases or 63% of all single-family loan purchases in August. In July, Freddie purchased $26.7 billion in refinanced loans.
The August report also shows that Freddie Mac issued $38.5 billion in Participation Certificates, compared to $39.7 billion in billion in July.
The GSE also reported that the serious delinquency rate on its single-family guarantee portfolio continued to decline.
The percentage of loans that are 90 days or more past due fell to 2.64% in August, down 6 basis points from July. A year ago, Freddie had a 3.36% serious delinquency rate.
