Bond insurance

The volume of Ginnie securities issued in December marked the first time more than $80 billion has been issued in a month.

The net share of mortgages in Ginnie Mae securitizations with suspended payments appears to be stabilizing, but the number of new requests creates doubt about whether it will subside.

The percentage of borrowers who have asked to temporarily suspend payments due to coronavirus-related hardships is down overall, but in the Ginnie Mae market, they're still inching up.

Also the Federal Housing Administration, which is a key contributor of government-insured loans to Ginnie securitizations, recently set new conditions on mortgage applicants that have been in forbearance.

Ginnie Mae helped to fund more than $70 billion in loans aimed at helping low- and moderate-income borrowers in July.

Ginnie Mae will begin taking requests for assistance from issuers who, having exhausted all other options, are having trouble advancing borrowers' principal-and-interest payments to investors amid the pandemic.

The more than $44 billion in new Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities that came to market in June marked the strongest month for the government bond insurer in more than two years.

New securitizations backed by reverse mortgages are now at a low not seen in two years, signaling that higher volumes seen in recent months may be tapering off.

Issuance of Ginnie Mae securities backed by reverse mortgages rose above $1 billion for the second time in two years, according to the government agency's latest monthly report.