Washington, DC – Ginnie Mae announced today that its mortgage-backed securities (MBS) portfolio reached $1.5 trillion in unpaid principal balance (UPB). Ginnie Mae President Ted Tozer noted the unprecedented expansion of recent years. “This extraordinary growth, increasing our portfolio of outstanding MBS over thirty percent in just the last four years, is evidence that Ginnie Mae’s guarantee is playing an increasing role in stabilizing the secondary market, which is crucial to the housing recovery and the overall economy,” said Tozer. It took Ginnie Mae 42 years, from its founding in 1968, until July of 2010, to reach the $1 trillion mark. There are more than 9.1 million government-backed mortgage loans in the outstanding Ginnie Mae portfolio.

“Our role is critical because our unique business model – a public/private partnership -- provides a safe, effective and government-backed channel for the flow of capital for U.S. mortgages, significantly limiting risks to the taxpayer and providing much needed capital for the government,” added Tozer.

The rapid growth of Ginnie Mae’s portfolio is indicative of the corporation’s consistent financial stability, generating a profit for the U.S. Government for more than 20 consecutive years, and the effectiveness of Ginnie Mae’s unique business model. Ginnie Mae does not originate mortgage loans, nor does it buy or sell securities or loans for investment purposes. The corporation guarantees investors the timely payment of principal and interest on securities backed by loans insured or guaranteed by other Federal Government housing agencies. Ginnie Mae stands in the fourth loss position behind three layers of risk absorption, including borrowers’ equity, Federal Government loan-level mortgage guarantee programs, and the corporate resources of the lender that issues the mortgage-backed security (MBS).

Currently, more than $1.05 trillion of the corporation’s unpaid principal balance is comprised of Ginnie Mae II single-family pools, while Ginnie Mae I pools total $451 million. Ginnie Mae multifamily pools represent more than $85 billion of the UPB. The Ginnie Mae Home Equity Conversion Mortgage-Backed Securities (HMBS), included in Ginnie Mae II single-family pools, is $48 billion.

“It’s not just the size of our portfolio, but also our consistently strong market share over the last few years, from less than 10 percent before the economic crisis, to a current share of more than 30 percent, that demonstrates the unique value the housing finance system places in the Ginnie Mae MBS,” added Mary Kinney, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Ginnie Mae.

Investors place a premium value on Ginnie Mae’s full faith and credit guaranty, which helps ensure that the corporation can maintain a consistent pool of funding for government mortgages. Ginnie Mae’s role in the secondary market supports the economic stabilization efforts of Congress and the Administration by making it possible for financial institutions to continue mortgage lending.

For more than 46 years Ginnie Mae has worked to provide homeownership opportunities for millions of Americans. Ginnie Mae securitizes loans insured or guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service and the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Public and Indian Housing.