The total dollar amount of mortgage-backed securitizations outstanding that Ginnie Mae insured in the first quarter rose by roughly $80 billion to $2.37 trillion.
Contributing to that number were new securitizations at the government agency, which is an arm of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. While issuance has been low compared to year-ago levels, it rebounded as spring buying began.
In February, volume dropped to $24.21 billion from around $28.62 billion in January, but by March it had risen to $27.83 billion. In April, it jumped to $33.35 billion.
New securitizations issued in the first quarter helped lenders fund homes for more than 281,000 households, more than 126,000 of which were entry-level buyers. Borrowers used about 70% of the loans to purchase homes.
Also, more than 45,000 households within the broader universe of loans outstanding successfully participated in foreclosure prevention programs offered by Ginnie Mae partners like the Federal Housing Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs during the first quarter. These agencies and others, like the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Housing Service and HUD's Public and Indian Housing affiliate back the loans in Ginnie Mae securitizations.
Ginnie's role is to work with mortgage companies that serve as its approved issuers and servicers to insure that payments get made to securitization investors.
The agency rarely has had to take on a direct role but
Ginnie and other government-related agencies in the secondary mortgage market that it coordinated with, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are in the process of
One portion of those counterparty standards,
