[1]Fannie Mae [2]'s gross mortgage portfolio has now expanded in two of the last three months following an increase at a compound annualized rate of 7.8 percent in March, according to Fannie Mae's March 2015 Monthly Volume Summary [3] released Thursday.
The GSE's Book of Business also expanded in March, increasing at a compound annualized rate of 0.4 percent for the month.
The expansion of the gross mortgage portfolio was a rare one for Fannie Mae, having occurred only three times in the last 57 months dating back to June 2010, when the portfolio's value was $818 billion. The March expansion left the portfolio valued at approximately $411.7 billion. March marked the second time in the previous three months it has happened, however; it increased at a compound annualized rate of 3.5 percent in January [4]. The only time the portfolio has expanded in the last 57 months was in December 2012. The portfolio contracted at a compound annualized rate of 14.5 percent [5] in February.
The value of Fannie Mae's Book of Business was $3.1225 trillion following the March expansion. The Book of Business, which includes the gross mortgage portfolio plus the total Fannie Mae mortgage-backed securities and other guarantees less the Fannie Mae mortgage-backed securities in the portfolio, expanded for the first time in four months following three consecutive months of contraction.
The total value of Fannie Mae's mortgage-backed securities and other guarantees for March was $2.8098 trillion, an increase from February's level of $2.8057 trillion. The end balance of mortgage-backed securities in the portfolio as of March 31, 2015, was $98.999 billion, up from $93.424 billion in February.
The single-family serious delinquency rate for Fannie Mae in March fell another five basis points down to 1.78 percent, its lowest point since before the recession. The single-family serious delinquency rate has declined every quarter since Q1 2010 for Fannie Mae.
Also according to March's monthly volume summary, Fannie Mae completed 9,482 loan modifications in March, an increase from the 8,472 loan mods completed in February. Fannie Mae has completed 26,700 loan mods for the first three months of 2015, an average of 8,900 per month. For the full year of 2014, Fannie Mae completed 122,823 loan mods, a monthly average of 10,235.