“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.

Leaders at FHA and VA haven't ruled out following the Federal Housing Finance Agency in a shift from a tri-merge score process to a bi-merge process.

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.