Despite declines at its conventional rivals, Ginnie Mae eked out a monthly gain in mortgage-backed securities issuance. It’s been about two-and-a-half years since overall agency volume has fallen this low.
Between Ginnie, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — issuance of fixed-rate MBS amounted to $63.5 billion during May, according to data provided by eMBS. The volume of securitizations was off from $68.1 billion reported for April.
Issuance at the three agencies has tumbled from May 2010, when volume was $86.3 billion.
The last time agency issuance of fixed-rate MBS was this low was January 2009, when securitizations totaled just $62.3 billion.
At the Government National Mortgage Association, as Ginnie is formally known, volume inched up to a little more than $19.8 billion from a little less than $19.8 billion. Still, the government-owned corporation saw a decline from $30.6 billion during the same month last year.
Ginnie can expect lower volume this month based on Federal Housing Administration endorsements, which fell to 93,394 mortgages for $16.8 billion during April from 99,112 endorsements for $18.3 billion in March.
From January through May, Ginnie’s issuances totaled $106.0 billion.
Issuance of Fannie’s fixed-rate securities declined to $26.4 billion from April’s $28.7 billion and $33.0 billion a year prior. Fannie securitizations add up to $211.4 billion so far during 2011.
May volume of $17.3 billion at Freddie was worse than $19.7 billion a month earlier and $22.8 billion a year earlier. Freddie’s year-to-date issuances amount to $125.2 billion.
Conventional activity has risen during the past month-and-a-half based on the Mortgage Market Index from Mortech Inc. and Mortgage Daily — suggesting a little more volume is possible this month at the two government-controlled enterprises.
