Delinquent mortgages continue to mount at government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) Freddie Mac ($0.00 0%). The delinquency rate of Freddie's single-family mortgages grew 5bps from January to 4.08% in February. That's up almost double from 2.13% at the same time last year. The delinquency rate among multifamily mortgages grew 2bps to 0.17%.

Freddie announced in February it would buy "substantially all" the 120+ day delinquent single-family mortgages in participation certificate (PC) pools.

According to new data (download here), the unpaid principal balance of 30-year fixed-rate mortgages in Freddie's 120+ day delinquency bucket totals $5.8bn. Freddie holds another $1.54bn of adjustable-rate mortgages in its 120+ day delinquent bucket.

Freddie's new figures come after sister GSE Fannie Mae ($0.00 0%) reported its serious delinquency rate grew to 5.52% in February.

Freddie's total mortgage portfolio decreased at an annualized rate of 2.6% in February. Its refinance-loan purchase and guarantee volume remained at $22.6bn, unchanged from January.

The new numbers came in a week after Timothy Geithner, secretary of the US Treasury Department, stressed the need of a process that would reform the GSE’s and remove “the umbrella of public protection” before Congress.

Write to Diana Golobay.

Disclosure: the author holds no relevant investment positions.