Monthly issuance of agency mortgage-backed securities continued its descent to levels not seen in more than two years, with the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. taking the biggest hit.
Between the Federal National Mortgage Association, Freddie Mac and the Government National Mortgage Association, issuance of fixed-rate MBS totaled $89.421 billion during October.
It was the slowest month for agency issuance since September 2011, when securitizations at the trio of government-controlled companies amounted to a revised $87.585 billion.
Volume was $102.332 billion in September 2013 and a revised $131.989 billion in October 2012, according to the data, which was provided by eMBS.
From Jan. 1 until Oct. 31, fixed-rate agency issuance amounted to $1.3463 trillion.
The biggest decline was at Freddie, where securitizations slowed 20 percent from a month earlier to $19.923 billion in October. Volume at the McLean, Va.-based company was a revised $41.675 billion a year earlier.
Freddie’s year-to-date issuances landed at $367.930 billion.
The next-biggest drop was at Fannie Mae, where fixed-rate issuance declined nearly 11 percent from September to $44.571 billion. Year-earlier volume at Fannie was a revised $57.120 billion.
During the first 10 months of this year, the Washington, D.C.-based company saw issuances of $646.440 billion.
Activity at Ginnie Mae was the least bad of the three companies, off less than 10 percent to $24.927 billion last month. In the same month during 2012, fixed-rate issuance at the government-owned corporation was $33.194 billion.
Ginnie’s year-to-date issuances totaled $331.361 billion.
