Although secondary market sales by bank mortgage banking platforms were down 8% in the fourth quarter, it still ranked as one of the busiest periods since early 2013. (Includes two data charts.)
Industry-wide holdings of residential MBS were steady in the fourth quarter, but several REITs shifted their focus to non-agency MBS and other investments. (Includes data chart.)
Foreign investors boosted their holdings of U.S. agency MBS by 13.4% from June 2018 to the middle of last year, with big gains posted by Japan and China. (Includes data chart.)
The outstanding supply of home-equity debt fell close to the $500 billion mark in late 2019, and depository HELOC holdings dropped to $402 billion. (Includes three data charts.)
Refinance business held up better than the purchase market in February, and a handful of issuers actually increased their Ginnie MBS activity. (Includes two data charts.)
While traditional non-agency jumbo lending lagged the overall market, the conforming-jumbo business was cracking. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae securitized $51.15 billion of single-family loans above last year’s $484,350 limit for one-unit properties.
Freddie Mac saw a much bigger decline in monthly volume than Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae. February issuance suggests a tapering in refinance demand. (Includes two data charts.)
Fannie, Freddie and Ginnie securitized $51.1 billion of conforming-jumbo loans in the fourth quarter of 2019, but that represented 29.5% of total jumbo production. (Includes three data charts.)