The hiatus in the net worth sweep added $12.53 billion to the GSEs’ combined net worth over the last six months of 2019, including fourth-quarter profit of $4.27 billion at Fannie and $2.45 billion at Freddie. (Includes data chart.)
SIFMA said the Ginnie-like market structure proposed by FHFA isn’t appropriate for conventional MBS. Moreover, the plan doesn’t address the continued misalignment of MBS issued by Fannie and Freddie.
Layton notes that in the first full quarter under the new UMBS regime the Freddie discount fell to just 1 basis point, 80% off its historic average, and dramatically lower than the 10 bp gap in 1Q19.