Fannie Mae reported a 4.2% increase in mortgage-backed securities issuance in March from February while the other government-sponsored enterprises — Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae — registered month-over-month declines.
On Thursday, Fannie issued its monthly activity report, which showed it issued $54.3 billion in MBS in March compared with $52.1 billion in February.
Freddie reported on Wednesday that its MBS issuance fell 33% from February, to $23.9 billion in March. Freddie noted in its monthly report that purchases of refinanced loans had dropped 38% month over month.
Fannie does not report refinancing volumes in its monthly report.
Last week, Ginnie Mae reported an 8% decline in MBS issuance.
Fannie ended the first quarter with a $757.6 billion mortgage investment portfolio, down less than 1% from a year earlier. Freddie has a $679.2 billion mortgage portfolio.
A House Financial Services subcommittee recently approved a bill, sponsored by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, that would reduce Fannie's and Freddie's portfolios to $250 million over a five-year period.
