The most efficient way to finance affordable housing in the United States is the secondary mortgage market, which is why Ginnie Mae is constantly innovating to improve its programs and policies to increase investor interest in its securities. By attracting more capital, more homeowners and renters can benefit from our mortgage-backed securities (MBS) products. Recently, Ginnie Mae made its third enhancement to its securities disclosure, giving investors new insight into how their purchase of Ginnie Mae multifamily MBS fits into their socially responsible investing portfolios.
Ginnie Mae is best known for its single-family MBS product, of which more than $2.13 trillion was outstanding at the end of January. However, less known but certainly as important, are the $137 billion of Ginnie Mae multifamily securities in the market. These securities help the FHA multifamily program finance affordable homes for more than 1.2 million households. Our enhanced disclosure for multifamily securities identifies which multifamily MBS have loans backed by properties with one or more “green” features, which include everything from energy efficient windows to water-saving devices; the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) designates which properties contain green features.
Over the past year, Ginnie Mae has expanded data disclosure to shine light on important characteristics of the properties financed by loans pooled into its securities, and where the loans underlying the securities are located. Ginnie Mae’s disclosures are clear and quantifiable, giving investors the information they need to make portfolio decisions, whether based on their own standards or the evolving ESG metrics in the market.
Further discussion of Ginnie Mae’s broad commitment to environmental, social and governance standards can be found in this blogpost and in our 2021 Annual Report.