Washington, DC – The Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) announced today that the corporation issued more than $39.693 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) in September. For the first nine months of calendar year 2009, Ginnie Mae provided nearly $337 billion of liquidity to the primary mortgage market, compared to nearly $189 billion for the first nine months of 2008.

"The continuing surge in the issuance of Ginnie Mae MBS is indicative of the key role that we are playing as the economy struggles to recover," said Thomas R. Weakland, Acting Executive Vice President of Ginnie Mae. "Not only are we clearly performing our original mission of expanding affordable housing opportunities for more Americans, we are also expanding sustainable housing opportunities."

Ginnie Mae I single-family pools led the way with over $22 billion in MBS issuance, while Ginnie Mae II single-family pools totaled more than $17 billion. Total single-family issuance for September was more than $39 billion. Ginnie Mae's multifamily MBS issuance was more than $432 million.

For the last 40 years, the industry has turned to the safety and security of Ginnie Mae MBS because it has the full faith and credit backing of the United States Government. As a result, Ginnie Mae's commitment to its mission has remained constant. This has allowed Ginnie Mae to provide homeownership opportunities for more than 30 million households by securitizing loans insured or guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Rural Development and the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH).

Ginnie Mae is a wholly-owned government corporation within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Ginnie Mae pioneered the mortgage-backed security (MBS), guaranteeing the very first security in 1971. An MBS enables a mortgage lender to aggregate and sell mortgage loans as a security to investors. Ginnie Mae securities carry the full faith and credit of the United States Government, which means that, even in difficult times, an investment in Ginnie Mae is one of the safest an investor can make.