Ginnie Mae on Thursday announced that mortgage-backed securities (MBS) continue to be a source of affordable financing for homeownership and rental housing.
For March, Ginnie Mae reported an MBS issuance volume of $82.25 billion in March, up from $77 billion issued in February.
Issuance continues to be fueled by across-the-board demand for government-backed mortgages as consumers increase home refinance and home purchase volume during this period of very low interest rates. Approximately 294,072 homes and apartment units were financed by Ginnie Mae guaranteed MBS in March.
"Although mortgage rates have increased from their all-time lows, strong consumer appetite for the mortgage programs of our federal insuring and guaranteeing partners continues to drive home purchase and mortgage refinancing and fuel MBS issuance and investment,” said Ginnie Mae Acting EVP Michael Drayne.
A breakdown of March issuance of $82.25 billion includes $76.81 billion of Ginnie Mae II MBS and $5.44 billion of Ginnie Mae I MBS, which includes $5.35 billion of loans for multifamily housing.
Ginnie Mae's total outstanding principal balance as of March 31 was $2.1 trillion, not significantly different from $2.105 trillion in February, and down slightly from the March 2020 level of $2.14 trillion.
The following explains the two types of Ginne Mae MBS:
- Ginnie Mae I MBS are modified pass-through mortgage-backed securities for which registered holders receive separate principal and interest payments on each of their certificates. Ginnie Mae I securities can include single-family, multifamily, manufactured home, and project construction loans.
- Ginnie Mae II MBS are modified pass-through mortgage-backed securities for which registered holders receive an aggregate principal and interest payment from a central paying agent. An Issuer may participate in the Ginnie Mae II MBS either by issuing custom, single-Issuer pools or through participation in the issuance of multiple-Issuer pools, which combine loans with similar characteristics.
Ginnie Mae in 2013 began releasing monthly loan-level data for existing, active single-family mortgage-backed securities (MBS).
"The release of loan-level data for existing single-family MBS is an important step toward improving our transparency," Ginnie Mae President Ted Tozer said at the time. "Enhancing MBS disclosures assists Ginnie Mae in attracting global capital by meeting the needs of investors more effectively and enabling them to make better-informed investment decisions.
The company has since been continuing to enhance its MBS data disclosure system.
For more information on monthly MBS issuance, UPB balance, REMIC monthly issuance and global market analysis visit Ginnie Mae Disclosure [1].