The HMBS new issue market increased slightly in September. HECM Mortgage-Backed Securities (“HMBS”) issuance totaled $500 million, $6 million higher than August’s $494 million. 79 pools were issued in September – two more than August. HMBS Issuance remains near historical lows, comparing monthly issuance dating back to 2010.
Ginnie Mae circulated for comment June 27th a Term Sheet for its proposed “HMBS 2.0” program, whereby loans that have UPBs in excess of 98% of Maximum Claim Amount can be pooled. If implemented, HMBS 2.0 should increase HMBS issuance substantially by financing most mandatory buyouts, which were again over $400 million, according to Recursion.
FAR was the top issuer in September with $151 million – $15 million below August’s $166 million. Issuance from PHH increased substantially to $108 million from last month’s $80 million. Longbridge issuance decreased by $15 million to $105 million. Mutual of Omaha issued $75 million – relatively the same as August’s $73 million. Ginnie Mae/RMF (aka “Issuer 42”) again issued no HMBS pools.
HMBS issuance set a record in 2022, with nearly $14 billion issued. Total issuance for 2023 was approximately $6.5 billion. 2024 total issuance through September totals $4.3 billion – $612 million lower than at this time last year and $7.4 billion lower than at this time in 2022.
September’s original (first participation) production of $350 million was $14 million higher than August’s $336 million and $56 million higher than July’s $294 million.
The 79 pools issued in September consisted of 23 first-participation or original pools, 51 tail pools and 5 pools which include both first participations and tails. 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 issuance totaled $130 million, below the typical range.
Notable in the September HMBS issuance data are 20 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 $12.8 million of UPB that may not otherwise have been issued in September. Ginnie Mae issued APM 23-11 in September 2023, which allows participations from the same loan to be pooled more than once in the same month. The aggregate of participations pooled in September for which more than one participation from the same loan was pooled is $59.3 million, of which $1.2 million were first participations.
New View Advisors compiled this data from publicly available Ginnie Mae data as well as private sources.
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