Fannie's MBS issuance was up significantly from April to May while Freddie posted a smaller monthly gain. Purchase mortgages and refinancing both rose substantially.

The long saga of the Single Security Initiative culminates in what’s supposed to be a more liquid and efficient TBA market as Fannie and Freddie issue their first common securities over the CSP.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac got proportionally more of their single-family business from large-volume sellers in the first quarter, although production was down sharply in every seller category. [Includes two data charts.]

Freddie Mac increased its production of single-family mortgage-backed securities at a time when its two secondary market competitors saw significant declines in volume. [Includes two data charts.]

The uniform MBS is scheduled to launch in just over three months, but there is still some confusion about how it will affect investors in the to-be-announced market. Earlier this month, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and the Investment Company Institute, in a joint letter, urged the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department to clarify certain diversification requirements under the single security initiative.

After a year and a half of following its carefully scripted plan to normalize its balance sheet and return to good, old-fashioned monetary policy, the Federal Reserve muddied the waters at last week’s meeting of the Federal Open Markets Committee.

Speaking at a public forum recently, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed will continue to offload the massive $4 trillion portfolio it acquired through quantitative easing in the wake of the housing crisis.

Single-family mortgage business at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac slumped in the fourth quarter of 2018 as purchase-mortgage activity faded, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis of mortgage-backed securities disclosures. [Includes two data charts.]