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Ginnie Mae’s mortgage-backed securities (MBS) portfolio outstanding grew to $2.52 trillion in December 2023, including $28.7 billion of total MBS issuance, leading to $13 billion of net growth. December’s new MBS issuance supports the financing of nearly 95,000 households, including more than 47,000 first-time homebuyers. Approximately 76.3% of the December MBS issuance reflects new mortgages that support home purchases because refinance activity remained low due to higher interest rates.
The December issuance includes $27.6 billion of Ginnie Mae II MBS and nearly $1.02 billion of Ginnie Mae I MBS, including approximately $902 million in loans for multifamily housing.
For the 2023 calendar year to date, Ginnie Mae supported the pooling and securitization of more than 620,000 first-time homebuyer loans.
Ginnie Mae’s November’s MBS portfolio outstanding grew to $2.51 trillion in November 2023, including $31.7 billion of total MBS issuance, leading to $18 billion of net growth. November’s new MBS issuance supports the financing of nearly 105,000 households, including 53,000 first-time homebuyers. Approximately 76.5% of the November MBS issuance reflects new mortgages that support home purchases because refinance activity remained low due to higher interest rates.
The November issuance included $30.9 billion of Ginnie Mae II MBS and more than $810 million of Ginnie Mae I MBS, including approximately $660 million in loans for multifamily housing.
Ginnie Mae also recently published its Annual Financial Report for fiscal year 2023, which highlights its financial performance and accomplishments from the past year, and its plans and approaches for strengthening the U.S. housing finance market and supporting affordable and equitable housing opportunities for all Americans.
As the report demonstrates, during fiscal year 2023, Ginnie Mae supported more than 1.2 million households, including underserved communities, first-time homebuyers, servicemembers, and veterans. Mortgage-backed security (MBS) issuance topped $404 billion, and the Ginnie Mae MBS outstanding reached $2.476 trillion.
“I am impressed with our financial results and the incredible impact Ginnie Mae has had on millions of American households, even in the face of a challenging housing market,” said Ginnie Mae President Alanna McCargo. “As the Annual Report shows, we continue to manage an incredibly complex program, numerous risks, and continued growth with strength and precision, and we are managing a number of emerging risks in the housing market with incredible efficiency. I am very proud of our outstanding team for continuously delivering results for the American people during a time when housing affordability has been greatly challenged.”
A coalition of seven industry trade groups recently sent a letter to the Chairs and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD), and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittees to express support for full funding of the Fiscal Year 2024 budget request levels for Ginnie Mae.
The industry groups seeking the budget request include the Community Home Lenders of America (CMLA), Housing Policy Council (HPC), Leading Builders of America, Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), National Association of Realtors (NAR), and National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA).
For Ginnie Mae, the coalition’s letter calls out how underfunding would put important Ginnie Mae initiatives at risk, including enhancing market liquidity for issuers, and requests FY 2024 budget expenditure of $61 million, which is $21 million over FY 2023’s budget.
“It is essential that Ginnie Mae has the resources and staff the agency needs to carry out its responsibilities, and focus on core mission, including oversight of the 300-plus financial institutions (“issuers”) that rely on Ginnie Mae securities to access the capital markets,” said the letter. “These companies turn to Ginnie Mae to guarantee securities composed of loans backed by FHA, RHS, and VA loans. This broad base of issuers is vital to maintaining a competitive mortgage market and keeping mortgage rates as low as possible to maximize consumer choices. With the rapid increase in long-term mortgage rates, homeownership affordability is strained, which makes the competition created by a broad issuer base particularly critical.”
The group also notes that a 1% cut to the Ginnie Mae account would result in harmful mortgage market impacts and taxpayer risks. As noted, both the House and Senate THUD bills recognized this and funded increases of $11 million and $14 million, respectively.
“Whatever the process utilized to finalize HUD funding, the higher Senate funding increase to the Ginnie Mae account should be the absolute minimum that is prescribed,” said the letter.
