The volume of agency issuance jumped last month to the highest level in more than three years, with the Federal National Mortgage Association, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. and the Government National Mortgage Association all contributing to the gain. The strong activity pushed year-to-date volume past $1 trillion.
Total issuance of fixed-rate mortgage-backed securities at the three housing finance agencies was $148.280 billion during August. It was the busiest month since July 2009, when agency issuance totaled $163.789 billion.
Activity increased from a month earlier, when issuance amounted to $128.265 billion, and August 2011, when the trio of government-controlled companies generated just $77.294 billion in securitizations.
The statistics, which were reported by information provider eMBS, indicate that agency issuance totaled $1.0018 trillion during the eight months ended Aug. 31.
Last month’s most impressive performance was delivered by Ginnie, where fixed-rate issuance jumped 27 percent from July to $35.586 billion. The government-owned firm’s volume leapt from $22.474 billion in August 2011.
From Jan. 1 through Aug. 31, Ginnie’s issuances added up to $235.542 billion.
Fannie saw fixed-rate issuance climb to $75.419 billion in August from the prior month’s $67.920 billion. The Washington, D.C.-based company more than doubled its business from a year earlier, when volume totaled $33.702 billion.
During the first eight months of 2012, issuance at Fannie was $500.000 billion.
Freddie pushed its issuance level up to $37.275 billion from July’s $32.295 billion in volume and August of last year’s $21.118 billion. Year-to-date issuance at the McLean, Va.-based firm was $266.303 billion.
