The ""New York Federal Reserve Bank"":http://www.newyorkfed.org purchased $20.29 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) from government agencies this week. The central bank has committed to buy up $1.25 trillion in mortgage securities this year. Its purchases currently stand at an estimated $577 billion.
The gross amount of the ""Federal Reserve's MBS buys"":http://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/mbs/ this week totaled $23.07 billion. The Fed bought $12.42 billion in mortgage securities from Fannie Mae, $7 billion from Freddie Mac, and $3.65 billion from Ginnie Mae.
The central banks' expanded debt purchases are intended to improve market conditions for home purchases by lowering mortgage rates. The Fed's efforts had sent rates for home loans plummeting well below five percent for the first part of the year, but long-term rates began inching above that record-low mark this month.
According to recent analysis by JP Morgan Chase, the Federal Reserve is underwater on its MBS portfolio by about one percent and would have to take a hit of more than $5 billion if it were to price the securities at mark-to-market values.