GSE refi business jumped and shifted toward borrowers with higher credit scores during the fourth quarter. With purchase mortgages, lenders also put a greater emphasis on LTV ratios below 81%.
In the agency MBS market, refi volume with primary MI was up sharply at both the government-sponsored enterprises and the Department of Veterans Affairs, while FHA volume lagged to some extent.
President Trump this week said he plans to ban large institutional investors from acquiring single-family homes. SFR securitization volume hit $8.65 billion last year.
As long as the GSEs are profit-seeking entities, Urban Institute analysts suggest that allowing Fannie and Freddie to buy large amounts of agency MBS would leave the GSEs “with every incentive to swell their balance sheets to enormous levels during these periods of volatility.”