Retail-originated refi production was particularly strong at the GSEs, climbing 160.5% from the first to the second quarter. By contrast, deliveries of retail refi loans rose 30.5% at Ginnie Mae, where total MBS issuance increased more modestly...
However, there’s a catch to the Ginnie number. Servicers of government product, especially depositories with a balance sheet, increasingly are buying delinquent FHA and VA loans out of MBS pools as a way to save money and possibly rehabilitate them down the road.
According to Dave Stevens, a former FHA commissioner, DPA provided by government entities, such as Chenoa, is one of the only scalable options to help those without the means to purchase a property.
There’s a big disparity between default rates on Fannie/Freddie loans and government-insured loans in Ginnie MBS. The combined total delinquencies for the government-sponsored enterprises was 4.13%, compared with Ginnie’s 10.81%.
New VA home guaranty business continued to boom, rising 21.8% from the first quarter to a record $100.52 billion. But FHA single-family endorsements fell 5.9% to $73.19 billion over that period.
For HUD, the central question boils down to this: Will the MMIF have enough cash on hand to weather what could turn out to be a delinquency tsunami on the FHA book of business?