Replies to post #455751 on Fannie Mae-No Politics (FNMA)

[Clutch29]

GSE Market Thuds to a Two-Year Low in 1Q18

By John Bancroft

[e-mail]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recorded sharp declines in new business volume during the first quarter of 2018 despite a promising launch into the spring homebuying season, according to figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance.

The two government-sponsored enterprises securitized $184.62 billion of single-family mortgages during the first three months of 2018. That was down a substantial 19.3 percent from the fourth quarter, and it represented the lowest three-month production level since the beginning of 2016.

Most of the drop came from a 17.7 percent decline in refinance loans pooled into new GSE MBS. The $81.35 billion in first-quarter Fannie/Freddie refi business was the lowest such total since the third quarter of 2014.

Purchase-mortgage business was off even more, dropping 23.6 percent from the fourth quarter to a total of $98.58 billion. However, the first-quarter purchase-mortgage total was up 7.6 percent from the same period in 2017