“The recent boomerang in rates has dampened already tentative homebuyer momentum as we approach the spring, a historically busy season for homebuying,” said Sam Khater, chief economist at Freddie Mac.

Ginnie Mae's revisions come one day after the FHA raised the maximum loan limit for Title 1 loans on manufactured housing.

FHA, VA, Ginnie Mae and USDA are working with MISMO on a new servicing dataset.

Refis accounted for 15.0% of Ginnie issuance in January compared with a 14.7% share the previous month.

The vast majority of FHA originations end up in Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities.

The new Ginnie product would relieve pressure for reverse mortgage lenders.

Issuance declined by 16.7% on a quarterly basis in the fourth quarter, with the VA losing market share.

It stands to reason that Ginnie would want to sell the HECMs it seized from Reverse Mortgage Funding.

Both FHA and VA issuance volume declined in November, with VA activity posting the larger fall.

Total Ginnie assets stood at $60.2 billion as of the end of September, up from $39.5 billion a year earlier. And liabilities increased from $9.7 billion to $29.4 billion.