Fannie Mae (FNMA)

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Fannie/Freddie Business with Private MI Fell in 4Q; A Shift to FHA/VA ?

By John Bancroft [e-mail]

The volume of home loans with private mortgage insurance that were securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac dropped 17.1 percent from the third to the fourth quarter of last year, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking.

That?s not so bad, given that MBS production by the two fell 19.9 percent during the last three months of 2015. The GSEs securitized $48.95 billion of loans with private MI in the fourth quarter, or 24.9 percent of their total MBS issuance for the period.

Ginnie Mae securitization of FHA and VA loans was also down in the fourth quarter, by 15.3 percent and 11.9 percent, respectively. That suggests that private MI lost some ground in the primary mortgage insurance market in late 2015, although the timing vagaries in the secondary market make it far from certain.

For the year, private MI volume in Fannie/Freddie MBS was up 25.2 percent from 2014, totaling $203.88 billion. However, that came up a bit short of the $208.17 billion of private MI loans securitized by the GSEs in 2013. For full details and exclusive tables on the topic, see the new edition of Inside Mortgage Finance.