Monthly agency securitizations fell to the lowest level in more than two years. The Government National Mortgage Association and the Federal National Mortgage Association each saw monthly issuance drop by around $3 billion, while the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. mostly maintained its business.
The trio of government-controlled mortgage companies collectively issued $73.825 billion in fixed-rate mortgage-backed securities during December.
The data reported by eMBS indicates that volume was lower than $80.097 billion the previous month.
Issuance has been lower each month since April, when the total was $148.976 billion.
Securitization business sank from December 2012, when $123.706 billion was issued.
The last time monthly issuance was this slow was in July 2011, when activity amounted to $63.311 billion.
For all of 2013, fixed-rate issuance by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae was $1.5000 trillion.
Annual activity was off from 2012, when $1.6012 trillion was issued.
Out ahead in the month-over-month decline was Ginnie, where last month’s issuance was $19.709 billion, tumbling from $23.035 billion reported for November.
Ginnie’s business plunged from December 2012, when $36.361 billion in issuances were completed.
Full-year 2013 issuance at Washington, D..C.-based Ginnie slipped to $374.654 billion from the prior year’s $378.761 billion.
Also losing ground from November was Fannie, with fixed-rate MBS issuance declining to $33.462 billion from $36.387 billion in November. The Washington, D.C.-based company’s business was down by nearly half from $61.479 billion in December 2012.
On an annual basis, Fannie issuance retreated to $716.208 billion from $801.272 billion in 2012.
Losing the least ground was McLean, Va.-based Freddie, which saw $20.655 billion in issuance during the final month of the year versus $20.675 billion a month earlier and $25.866 billion a year earlier.
Freddie’s annual volume saw a smaller decline than its two rivals, with 2013 fixed-rate issuance landing at $409.118 billion, slightly off from $421.146 billion in 2012.
