Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued to buy large volumes of mortgage loans during August as housing markets and refinance activity defied the gravitational pull of a weakening U.S. economy. Fannie Mae reported its second highest monthly "new business" volume during August – $55.56 billion in mortgage purchases and MBS issuance – just off the record $58.62 billion transacted in June. August volume was up about $1 billion from the previous month.