Annual securitizations were the lowest they’ve been in three years at Ginnie Mae. Jumbo issuance plunged by a third, but reverse mortgage activity was higher. The government-owned corporation’s book of business broke $2 trillion.
Including residential and multifamily activity, issuance of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities during September came to $35.749 billion, according to monthly operational data from the Washington-based firm.
Securitizations on behalf of the Government National Mortgage Association, as it is formally known, retreated from $38.872 trillion the preceding month and dropped from $41.580 billion a year previous.
Issuance consisted of $1.028 billion in multifamily securities and
$34.721 billion in residential MBS. But while overall residential volume declined, jumbo issuance was up 2 percent to $0.974 billion, and issuance of home-equity conversion mortgage MBS inched up a percent to $0.588 billion.
During all of fiscal-year 2018, which concluded on Sept. 30, overall MBS issuance totaled $434.732 billion — the slowest year since 2015’s $432.445 billion.
Jumbo issuance sank 33 percent from fiscal-year 2017 to $14.607 billion. But HMBS jumped 12 percent to $10.679 billion. HMBS activity surged in the first half of this year as borrowers who previously closed on their loans had rushed to beat an increase in mortgage insurance premiums. Based on the average for the last five months, Ginnie’s HMBS issuance is on pace to come in at less than $8 billion during fiscal-year 2019.
On a calendar-year basis,
overall Ginnie Mae issuance amounted to $317.719 billion during the first nine months of this year.
Ginnie ended last month with $2.0082 trillion in outstanding MBS.
“The fact that Ginnie Mae has reached $2 trillion in outstanding principal underscores the corporation’s role and highlights our responsibilities as a pillar of America’s secondary mortgage market,” Ginnie Mae Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Michael Bright said in a news release. “Ginnie Mae’s explicit, transparent and paid-for government guaranty has set our MBS apart as one of the most reliable fixed-income securities in the world.”
Ginnie’s book of business was $1.9945 trillion as of Aug. 31 and $1.8842 trillion as of Sept. 30, 2017.
Most recently, outstanding MBS was comprised of $0.1152 trillion in multifamily securities and $1.8930 trillion in residential MBS — including $0.0571 trillion in jumbo MBS and $0.0553 trillion in HMBS.
