Secondary purchases by Fannie Mae reached the highest level since the height of the refinance boom. But delinquency also climbed.
New business acquisitions amounted to $78.4 billion during February, according to the Washington, D.C.-based company’s monthly summary. Activity improved more than $54.0 billion in business during January and $50.2 billion a year earlier.
The last time business volume was higher was in October 2003 — when the company reported $100.3 billion in volume, according to historical data reported by Fannie.
The secondary lender said its total book of business ended February at $2.954 trillion. The total included a $0.722 trillion gross mortgage portfolio and $2.232 trillion in outstanding mortgage-backed securities.
Single-family delinquency of at least 90 days, reported on a one-month lag, reached 1.06 percent on Jan. 31, climbing from 0.98 percent in December and well above 0.66 percent a year earlier. Multifamily delinquency nudged slightly higher to 0.10 percent at the end of January.
The effective duration gap was reported at two months in February, up from one month in January.
