Fannie Mae’s Book Shrinks as New Business Falls

Fannie Mae’s book of business shrank in December, ending a short streak of growth and marking the eighth month of 2013 in which business slowed.

According to the GSE’s monthly volume summary, business contracted at a compounded annual rate of 0.4 percent in December, bringing the full-year growth rate to -0.8 percent.

The total book of business was valued at about $3.16 trillion as of the end of 2013.

Fannie Mae’s gross mortgage portfolio also shrank in December for the 12^th straight month as commitments to purchase fell nearly $10 billion to $37.7 billion. The portfolio totaled $490.7 billion as of year-end.

New business acquisitions in December came to $39.7 billion, down from $42.0 billion in November. For the entire year, acquisitions totaled $796.6 billion.

Delinquency rates continued to trend downward. According to the company, the single-family serious delinquency rate was down 6 basis points in December to 2.38 percent, while the multifamily serious delinquency rate fell 1 point to 0.10 percent.

The GSE reported 13,815 loan modifications in December, with the entire year seeing 160,007 modifications.