California remained the largest source of insured home loans securitized by Fannie, Freddie and Ginnie in the second quarter, and it had relatively large concentrations of FHA and VA mortgages.
Mortgage brokers accounted for a record 14.8% of single-family business in the agency MBS market during the second quarter. Credit trends suggest sellers may have focused on the low-hanging fruit as production volume ramped up significantly.
Ginnie Mae saw a huge increase in rate-term refinance business, but the cash-out market also gained ground. Freddie led its rivals in attracting more first-time buyer business.
Issuance of agency MBS during April-June rose 43% from the first quarter of the year, with gains posted across the board. Combined issuance by Fan-nie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae hit $330.65 billion.
The robust second quarter brought year-to-date agency MBS issuance to $562.02 billion, just 1.3% below the level reached in the first six months of last year.
Robust homebuying activity brought a huge increase in purchase mortgages into the Ginnie Mae MBS program in the second quarter. Rate-term refinance activity was up sharply.