Freddie Mac reported today that its total mortgage portfolio increased at an annualized rate of 9.0 percent in December. The portfolio balance at the end of the period was $2.098 trillion compared to $2.092 trillion at the end of November and $2.011 trillion at the end of December 2016.

Purchases and Issuances totaled $46.359 billion, bringing the 2017 total to $428.786 billion, Sales were ($3.388) billion and Liquidations ($27.400) billion in December and totaled ($36.202) and ($306.369) billion respectively for the year.  The annualized growth rate for 2017 through the end of December was 4.3 percent and the liquidations rate for the entire year was (15.2) percent. 

Single-family refinance-loan purchase and guarantee volume was $13.7 billion, representing 44 percent of total single-family mortgage portfolio purchases or issuances.  Relief refinance mortgages comprised approximately 4 percent of the total refinance volume in July based on unpaid principal balance.

The Mortgage Related Investments Portfolio had an ending balance of $253.455 billion, a decrease of 2.7 percent from June.  The annualized growth rate for the portfolio for the year ended in December is (15.1) percent, a decrease of $578 million in the aggregate unpaid principal balance.  Freddie Mac had purchases of $35.149 billion for the month and $280.012 billion for the entire year.   Liquidations in December were ($3.706) billion and Sales were ($32.020) billion and, for the year, ($47.081) billion and ($277.901) billion respectively. 

The ending balance of the Mortgage Related Investments Portfolio was composed of $132.258 billion in Mortgage Related Securities, Mortgage Loans valued at $107.171 billion, Non-Agency, non-Freddie Mac Mortgage-Related Securities at $8.803 billion; and Agency non-Freddie Mac Mortgage related securities of $5.223 billion. Mortgage related securities and other guarantee commitments increased at an annualized rate of 9.8 percent in December.

Freddie Mac's single-family delinquency rate increased from 0.95 percent in November to 1.08 percent in December.  A year earlier the rate was 1.00 percent. The rate for credit-enhanced Primary Mortgage Insurance loans rose 17 basis points month-over-month and the non-credit enhanced rate was up 12 basis points. The multi-family delinquency rate was 0.02 percent, unchanged from November and 0.01 point lower than the previous December.

The company said it completed 3,575 single-family loan modifications in December and 45,164 during the year.