Fannie Mae (FNMA)

[navycmdr]

GSE Buybacks Down Sharply in First Quarter of 2015

By John Bancroft [e-mail]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both reported sharp declines in mortgage repurchases during the first quarter of 2015, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis of public disclosures by the two. There was, however, a sharp increase in the volume of unresolved buyback demands.

The GSEs reported a combined $491.3 million in mortgage repurchases during the first three months of 2015, a 30.8 percent decline from the fourth quarter of last year. It was also the lowest quarterly buyback figure since Fannie and Freddie began filing repurchase activity reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission back in early 2012.

Fannie?s repurchase volume fell 45.8 percent from the previous quarter while Freddie?s was down just 1.3 percent. Freddie?s buyback total didn?t fall as much partly because the GSE settled a significant number of cases involving older loans. Just over half of the $236.6 million of repurchases Freddie reported for the first quarter were on loans securitized prior to 2008.