Ginnie Mae’s MBS Balance Continues to Climb

The issuance of Ginnie Mae's mortgage-backed securities (MBS) totaled $27.3 billion in March. Its total outstanding principal balance also continued to climb, increasing to $2.05 trillion compared with $1.9 trillion in March 2018.

However, quarter over quarter, the agency's issuance activity showed a slight decline. According to Ginnie Mae's March issuance summary, approximately $98.3 billion MBS were issued in the first quarter of 2019, a slight decline from $111.3 billion issued in the fourth quarter of 2018.

A breakdown of its March issuance includes $26.452 billion of Ginnie Mae II MBS and $879 million of Ginnie Mae I MBS, which includes $782 million of loans for multifamily housing.

While the Ginnie Mae I MBS are modified pass-through MBS on which registered holders receive separate principal and interest payments on each of their certificates, Ginnie Mae II MBS are modified pass-through MBS for which registered holders receive an aggregate principal and interest payment from a central paying agent. Ginnie Mae I securities can include single-family, multifamily, manufactured home and project construction loans.

As an agency, that guarantees payments of more than $2 trillion on MBS, Ginnie Mae recently announced that it is also looking at advancing proposals that would require nonbank mortgage lenders to compile documents which dictate how to keep their operations running if they get into trouble, according to an article in the Financial Times that cited comments from Maren Kasper, Acting President, Ginnie Mae.

Kasper told Financial Times that currently there was no federal safety and soundness regulator for nonbanks. "Today, the way the system is designed the taxpayer exposure sits with Ginnie Mae," she said giving reasons into why Ginnie Mae needed to protect them.

The total MBS issued by Ginnie Mae had stood at $416 billion, slightly less than around $473 billion issued by the agency in 2017.