Buy low, sell high. That piece of advice applies to stocks as well as bonds. But is now the time to purchase agency securities?

Some of Cenlar’s subservicing clients are eyeing a switch. But when it comes to securities holders whose assets are being serviced by the vendor, so far, there isn’t much to worry about.

Single-family MBS issuance by Fannie, Freddie and Ginnie was up 10% from 2020 to 2021, but bigger percentage gains were posted by non-agency RMBS, commercial MBS and ABS production. (Includes three data charts.)

Driven by demand for EBOs and non-agency products, trading desks were quite active in 2021. The new year is shaping up to be a bright one as well.

Freddie Mac, in particular, expects to issue a record volume of $25 billion in single-family risk-sharing transactions this year.

The enterprise for the first time will make loans on new-built homes eligible for securitization under its green MBS program.

REITs continue to buy agency MBS but carry a caveat: The sector is shrinking in terms of asset size. Investors who are contrarian at heart might want to start nibbling on some of these stocks.

It took seven or eight months for primary mortgage rates to reflect the Fed’s massive intervention in the secondary market.

ABS East attendance declined this year; non-agency MBS issuers saw weaker demand in November as supply spiked; GSE g-fees didn’t vary much based on seller size in 2020.

Six federal regulators tasked with overseeing risk-retention requirements for residential MBS decided to leave the standards unchanged after a two-year-long review.