Suggesting that the secondary market for mortgages remains less-than-inviting — even for a GSE — Freddie Mac (FRE) said Thursday that it would not issue a Reference REMIC security during May. Reference REMICs are essentially the GSE equivalent of a mortgage-backed security, and build on the Freddie Mac’s guaranteed maturity class (GMC) product. Freddie Mac GMCs are structured mortgage-backed securities with a shortened stated final maturity, and are backed by either Freddie Mac-issued Gold PCs or Hybrid ARMs. Since July of last year, Freddie Mac has issued only two such Reference REMICs. The latest, in February, saw its size reduced from $700 million to $400 million. A funding calendar published by the GSE specifies monthly opportunities for REMIC issuance, but the frozen mortgage market has made it difficult for it to issue new securities, forcing both it and sister GSE Fannie Mae to rely instead on issuing debt to fund operations. For more information, visit http://www.freddiemac.com. Disclosure: The author owned no positions in FRE when this story was originally published. HW reporters and writers follow a strict disclosure policy, the first in the mortgage trade.

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