Ginnie Mae [1] guaranteed more than $49 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) in May 2022, helping support affordable homeownership and rental unit development for more than 170,000 households. The May issuance takes the overall outstanding Ginnie Mae MBS program balance to $2.216 trillion, the highest in the agency’s history.
“We continue to see strong growth in the total portfolio as many consumers choose government-backed mortgages as the most affordable option for their affordable financing needs—particularly for homeowners who are looking for more affordable down payments through government-backed programs,” said Ginnie Mae President Alanna McCargo [2]. “Although total new mortgage origination volume is slowing due to rising mortgage rates and rising home prices, the low down payment options available from government programs are helping many homebuyers bridge these cost gaps.”
Ginnie Mae’s May issuance includes $46.27 billion of Ginnie Mae II MBS and $2.86 billion of Ginnie Mae I MBS, which includes approximately $2.75 billion of loans for multifamily housing.
In addition to reporting its record MBS issuance, Ginnie Mae also announced two separate All Participants Memoranda regarding the ongoing impact of the pandemic, extending certain delinquency reporting exemptions for issuers and the use of alternative audit procedures. Details regarding the extension of these temporary measures related to delinquency thresholds and audit policy were written in “Extension of Temporary Relief from the Acceptable Delinquency Threshold Requirement” (Ginnie Mae APM 22-05 [3]), and “Extension of Permitting Alternative Procedures for Certain Aspects of Issuer Annual Audit Report” (Ginnie Mae APM 22-06 [4]), respectively.
“In order to continue protecting the healthy functioning of the housing finance market as the impact of COVID-19 lingers, issuers still need these prudent flexibilities to help manage persistent operational challenges,” said McCargo.
The extended relief policies underscore Ginnie Mae’s commitment to helping issuers support the needs of homeowners as the COVID-19 National Emergency continues to affect them. The policies also recognize that COVID-19 may have impacted the ability of issuer’s independent auditors to perform certain on-site document custodian review audit activities for the fiscal year ending on or before September 30, 2022, which require physical inspection and observation.