Freddie Mac bought $52 billion worth of loans in March and also liquidated $41.4 billion in mortgages, causing its mortgage portfolio to expand at an annualized rate of 4% for the first time this year.

In the GSE’s monthy summary volume report, it also noted single-family refinance-loan purchase and guarantee volumes totaled $41.8 billion in March, representing 80% of total mortgage portfolio purchases.

Additionally, relief refinance mortgages comprised 28% of the government-sponsored enterprise’s total refinance volume during the month based on unpaid principal balance.

Freddie Mac modified 6,511 loans in March and 20,613 for the three months ending March 31.

The unpaid principal balance of the agency’s mortgage-related investment portfolio decreased to $8.6 billion in March.

The percentage of seriously delinquent single-family mortgages shrunk from 3.15% of the GSE’s pool in February to 3.03% in March. The multifamily delinquency rate remained flat at 0.16% in March.