Some $15.44 billion of refis were pooled into Ginnie MBS in October, a 25.7% jump from the previous month.

None of the state or local downpayment assistance programs have enough scale or funding to make a meaningful impact in addressing the challenge of accumulating a 3.5% downpayment on FHA loans, according to analysts at the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center.

Ginnie initially planned on implementing the capital requirements at the end of 2023, along with other reforms.

Sam Valverde, acting president of Ginnie Mae, noted that Ginnie and the Department of Veterans Affairs have policies in place to prevent refis that don’t benefit borrowers and they will continue to watch for “abnormal” refi activity.

One addresses foreclosures in states with a nonjudicial foreclosure process and the other would modify requirements for direct endorsement underwriters.

“If we had a major economic downturn, I don’t know what kind of havoc we would have right now, because there’s no stability,” said Ted Tozer, a former president of Ginnie Mae.

Ginnie Mae Acting President Sam Valverde said loan-level securitization could help liquidity.

Ginnie issuers securitized $15.61 billion of refis through the Department of Veterans Affairs home loan program in the third quarter, a 68.5% increase from the prior period.

FHA issued an extensive FAQ document late last week, addressing questions about guidance with an Oct. 31 implementation date for reconsiderations of value.

FHA said the revisions more closely align with computer-security incident notification standards crafted by the federal banking agencies.