Freddie Mac's monthly volume summary for November revealed a second month of sizeable growth in its retained portfolio not surprising given its placement in conservatorship and the government's goal of reducing mortgage rates for borrowers.
The retained portfolio surged an annualized 65.6% resulting in an ending balance of $805.4 billion. This follows a 43.6% growth in November to $763.7 billion. Based on the agreement with the government, the GSEs portfolios can reach $850 billion by the end of 2009, after which they will be required to reduce this by 10% annually.
The increase came primarily on PCs and structured securities holdings which jumped $32 billion. Other components of the retained portfolio non-Freddie Mac agency holdings and mortgage loans increased $9.8 and $2.4 billion, respectively, while non-Freddie Mac non-agency holdings declined $2.4 billion.
Other details included in Freddie's monthly volume summary are highlighted below.
* Retained net purchases totaled nearly $15 billion compared to $17 billion in the previous month.
* Total Freddie Mac MBS issuance was $14.5 billion in November compared to $13.8 billion in October. After liquidations, issuance was -$4.6 billion versus $3.2 billion previously.
* Freddie Mac reported a 2.8% annualized increase in the total mortgage portfolio. Year-to-date growth is 5.1%.
* Total delinquencies rose 18 basis points to 152 basis points in November, and is up 92 basis points from a year ago.
* The effective duration gap remained at 0 months.
