The HMBS new issue market was slightly lower in January compared to December. HECM Mortgage-Backed Securities (“HMBS”) issuance totaled $445 million in January, $12 million lower than December’s $457 million. 79 pools were issued in each of January and December. Except for the early days of Ginnie Mae’s HMBS program (2009 and prior), January’s $445 million issuance was the fourth lowest monthly tally ever. Aside from March 2023’s $442 million, one would have to look back to 2014 to find lower monthly volume.
FAR was the top issuer in January with $155 million – close to December’s $157 million. Issuance from Longbridge increased by ~$3 million to $93 million. PHH and Mutual of Omaha issued $83 million and $75 million respectively. Ginnie Mae/RMF (aka “Issuer 42”) again issued no HMBS pools.
Total HMBS issuance for 2023 was $6.5 billion, less than half of 2022’s record $14 billion issued. 2024 is off to a slow start with January’s issuance being $78 million lower than January 2023’s $523 million.
January’s original (first participation) production of $280 million was in line with December’s $282 million. January’s original new loan pool production was much less than that of January 2023, when approximately $347 million in original new HMBS pools were issued.
The 79 pools issued in January consisted of 21 first-participation or original pools and 58 tail pools. Original pools are those HMBS pools backed by first participations in previously uncertificated HECM loans. Tail HMBS issuances are HMBS pools consisting of subsequent participations. Tails are not from new loans, but they do represent new amounts lent. Last month’s tail pool issuances totaled $165 million, below the typical range.
Notable in the January HMBS issuance data are 21 pools with aggregate pool size less than $1 million. Issuers are taking advantage of Ginnie Mae’s provision to issue pools as small as $250,000. This represents $12.3 million of UPB that may not otherwise have been issued in January. Ginnie Mae issued APM 23-11 in September which allows participations from the same loan to be pooled more than once in the same month. The aggregate of participations pooled in January for which more than one participation from the same loan was pooled is $57.2 million.
New View Advisors compiled this data from publicly available Ginnie Mae data as well as private sources.
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