Fannie Mae saw its secondary market purchases fall by 20% in January while its cross town competitor, Freddie Mac, experienced a 10% gain, a sign that, perhaps, the Bank of America “problem” could be affecting the business of the two GSEs.
The volume comparisons are sequential: January compared to December.
Both were strong refinancing months for the industry, but it was in late January that Fannie cancelled an acquisition contract with B of A, except for new purchase money loans.
The two GSEs, as a policy, do not talk about their seller/servicer clients but each month they publish monthly business volume figures, which include their secondary market purchases.
According to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act numbers, B o A is Fannie's second largest customer, behind Wells Fargo & Co. (Wells is Freddie's largest customer – by far.)
In January Freddie bought $34 billion of loans from its seller/servicers, compared to $31 billion in December. Fannie bought $64 billion compared to $80 billion in December.
Compared to the same month in 2011, Fannie's acquisitions declined 15%, while Freddie's fell 13%.
Together, the two provide liquidity to 62% of the origination market as measured by their acquisitions. (The market share number is not a pure reading because the two GSEs continue to buy delinquent loans out of MBS pools, but nowhere as much as they did in 2010.)
