Freddie Mac saw a big fourth-quarter increase in Supers issuance that appeared to make up for lost ground earlier in the year. All three agencies posted declines in new REMIC production in the fourth quarter. (Includes two data charts.)
While the GSEs are under mandates to shrink their retained portfolios, Freddie’s holdings increased in the final three months of 2022. (Includes data chart.)
Rising spreads brought credit-risk transfer issuance to a halt in the fourth quarter and more than halved reinsurance transactions. Still, combined Fannie and Freddie CRT deals hit a record $21.64 billion in 2022. (Includes data chart.)
Thanks to rising rates and sagging home values, early buyouts from Ginnie MBS are starting to look long in the tooth. Opportunities are out there, but are not for the faint of heart. (Includes data chart.)
The rating service said both technicals and fundamentals in the mortgage market appear more resilient to stress than in previous crises, while highlighting some vintage differences.
Servicers will now have a shorter wait time to deliver reperforming loans back into Ginnie MBS, and the loans will no longer have to go into special RG pools. The changes are aimed at increasing liquidity for Ginnie issuers. (Includes data chart.)
Production of non-agency MBS suffered a third-straight sharp decline in quarterly issuance. The biggest hit was in the prime RMBS sector, where jumbo securitization dropped and GSE-eligible activity nearly disappeared.
Agency single-family MBS production continued to erode in the third quarter despite a modest pickup in purchase loans. Meanwhile, issuance fell sharply in the commercial MBS and ABS markets. (Includes three data charts.)
Rising mortgage interest rates increased the market share of jumbo loans, ARMs and expanded-credit mortgages in the second quarter, while the agency market shrank. The result was a downturn in securitization rates. (Includes data chart.)