Fannie Mae's final multifamily issuance numbers for 2011 are in and they reflect a 50% increase from the previous year, according to an executive at the GSE.
“We didn't see liquidity dry up over yearend as we sometimes do, so I think that's a real positive for the market,” Kimberly Johnson, vice president of multifamily capital markets at Fannie, told this publication when asked what the flow of issuance during the year was like.
Total new multifamily issuance for 2011 was generally in the range previously expected at $23.8 billion, up from $16.4 billion in 2010. Fannie Mae also resecuritized $6 billion of delegated underwriting and servicing (DUS) MBS through its Fannie Mae Guaranteed Multifamily Structures (GeMS) program in 2011.
GeMS issuance was somewhat steady throughout the course of last year, with a fairly large amount in the second half, Johnson said.
She said that she currently expects an increased number of larger GeMS deals this year and that there will be more regular monthly issuance. Right now it looks like new issue DUS will probably be in the same range in 2012, according to Johnson.
In other agency news, Ginnie Mae chief Ted Tozer has been trying in vain to get more mortgage firms to issue MBS, but Wells Fargo & Co. continues to increase its grip on the government market.
According to newly released figures, Wells Fargo Bank issued $28.4 billion of GNMAs in 4Q11, giving it a stunning market share of 43%. In 4Q 2010 its share was a bit more modest at 32%.
Overall, mortgage bankers issued $64.6 billion of GNMA MBS in the fourth quarter.
As reported by ASR sister publication National Mortgage News this week, Wells is already looking at a 4Q overall residential production share approaching 30%.
The bank continues to be a dominant player in the correspondent channel where it buys already funded loans from small to medium sized nonbank funders – especially Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Department of Veterans Affairs loans. The bank recently stopped disclosing its FHA/VA production but it likely has market share in that sector of nearly 40%.
