HECM Mortgage-Backed Securities (“HMBS”) issuance fell sharply in November to $763 million, falling for the seventh straight month.
On November 30, Reverse Mortgage Funding (“RMF”), the largest HMBS issuer of record, filed for bankruptcy. RMF is the issuer of record for approximately $21 billion of the $59 billion of total outstanding HMBS. RMF issued 15 pools in November totaling $118 million, versus $150 million in October. The fate of RMF’s HMBS portfolio is unclear at this time. The obligations for this portfolio, such as borrower advances, pool buyouts, tail issuance, and payment of mortgage insurance premiums, will all have to be worked out, possibly through a transaction in which another issuer takes over.
With a month to spare, HMBS issuance volume set a new record in 2022, with $13.23 billion issued through eleven months. HMBS issuance totaled just under $13.2 billion for 2021. However, in the current market environment, HMBS issuers will be hard pressed to come near those numbers in 2023.
November’s original (first participation) production fell to $516 million, down from $607 million in October, $744 million in September, $749 million in August, and barely one-third of April’s record $1.4 billion in new issuance. November’s original new loan pool production was also much less than that of November 2021, when approximately $1.08 billion in original new HMBS pools were issued.
76 pools were issued in November, the lowest new pool count since April 2014. These 76 pools consisted of 30 first-participation or original pools and 46 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. Tail HMBS issuance is essential for HMBS issuers to finance their monthly advances, such as borrower draws and FHA mortgage insurance premiums. Last month’s tail pool issuances totaled $246 million, within the typical range.
New View Advisors compiled this data from publicly available Ginnie Mae data as well as private sources.
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