Home sellers are now more willing to consider bids tied to FHA and VA mortgages.

Rate locks declined by 14% on a monthly basis in December, driven by fewer locks for purchase mortgages.

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

Marcia Fudge, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, appeared Thursday before the House Financial Services Committee.

HECM endorsements increased in the third quarter after four consecutive quarterly declines.

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.

FHA's share of the FHA/VA market hit 61.5% in the third quarter, the highest level in at least 10 years.