Credit trends remained strong as heavy refinancing activity helped boost agency business in the second quarter of 2025. The top sellers with significant TPO platforms continued to gain market share. (Includes two data tables.)

Kroll remained the biggest rating service in expanded-credit MBS with a 14.3% gain from the fourth quarter.

The boom in ABS backed by vehicle and business finance mostly helped the big-three rating services, but Kroll and Morningstar remained major players in rating non-agency MBS. (Includes two data tables.)

The Fed’s System Open Markets Account had $2.181 trillion of agency single-family MBS as of April 2, a 2.0% decline from year-end.

Notable: There was, however, an increase in the volume of unresolved buyback claims.

Seller buybacks of defective loans declined in the first quarter of 2025, and the GSEs also reported an increase in withdrawn claims. The pipeline of unresolved cases was up. (Includes three data tables.)

Insurance companies, pension funds and bank holding companies grew their agency MBS holdings substantially in the first quarter. Most of the market’s growth was in Ginnie and non-agency MBS. (Includes two data tables.)

The analysis tracks holdings through March 2025. Several REITs subsequently reduced their holdings amid volatility on tariff policies.

REIT holdings of agency MBS reached a four-year high in the first quarter of 2025, but financial market turmoil spurred some companies to pull back in April. (Includes two data tables.)

Bank holding company trading accounts showed a 21% surge in residential MBS during the first quarter, mostly involving agency MBS holdings among the largest institutions. (Includes two data tables.)