Ginnie Mae Report Illustrates Portfolio Growth, Direct Contribution To Government Earnings

Government-owned company Ginnie Mae, which oversees the secondary mortgage market and provides a guarantee for a large segment of home loans, released a fiscal year 2024 financial report this week that shows positive results.

“During FY24, Ginnie Mae’s mortgage-backed securities (MBS) program supported 1.2 million households nationwide — including servicemembers, veterans, and first-time homebuyers — from urban centers to rural and Tribal communities,” the company said in its announcement of the report.

“The MBS gross annual issuance totaled $423.4 billion, increasing Ginnie Mae’s outstanding portfolio to a record $2.64 trillion. This performance generated $3.1 billion in results of operations, including a $1.3 billion contribution to the U.S. Government.”

Gregory Keith, the company’s senior vice president and chief risk officer who is currently leading it on an interim basis, lauded the report. He said it illustrates the company’s positive role in providing affordable credit access while delivering value to U.S. taxpayers.

“In generating $3.1 billion net financial impact, including supporting 1.2 million households, Ginnie Mae proved how impactful our business can be in strengthening the housing finance market while generating superior financial results,” Keith said in a statement. “Perhaps more amazing is that Ginnie Mae accomplishes this mission with fewer than 300 employees.”

Chief financial officer Adetokunbo “Toky” Lofinmakin also characterized the results as strong by focusing on the value generated for the U.S. government’s balance sheet and, by extension, U.S. taxpayers.

“With a business model that generates a negative subsidy, we directly contribute to U.S. government earnings,” Lofinmakin said in a statement. “This year’s $1.3 billion contribution underscores our value and unwavering commitment to advancing affordable homeownership nationwide.”

Sam Valverde served as Ginnie Mae’s acting president this year following the resignation of Alanna McCargo. He emphasized the company’s ongoing modernization efforts in a letter at the beginning of the report.

“Ginnie Mae announced updates to our manufactured housing (MH) MBS program, which included changing our issuer financial and liquidity requirements to reduce barriers to entry and boost program participation,” Valverde said. “In response to comments from a request for information we published in 2022 with the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), this update represents the first phase in a series of systematic enhancements to the MH MBS program.”

Valverde also mentioned efforts to bolster cybersecurity at the company, both internally and with other financial institutions. He noted that Ginnie Mae has lent its expertise in the development of nonbank mortgage servicing policies, international collaborations and social impact disclosures. And it has done detailed work to create a supplemental Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM)-backed Securities (HMBS) program, he said.

Citing Ginnie Mae’s role in providing receipts for the federal government, housing industry trade groups such as the Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA), the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA) previously submitted a letter to congressional leaders urging full funding for Ginnie Mae.

The Senate approved full funding for the agency over the summer, but prior to his departure, Valverde told HousingWire that there was still a pending question about the full budget authority the company would have in 2025.

“As you know, we requested $67 million for salaries and expenses for fiscal year 2025,” he said in October. “I’m not going to opine on the likelihood of receiving the full amount; that’s up to Congress. What I can say is that we’ve had strong support from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and recent budget cycles have shown Congress’s support as well. The industry has also been strongly supportive of our budget requests.”

Valverde resigned from Ginnie Mae on Nov. 30. Last week, CHLA and the Housing Policy Council (HPC) again urged Congress to honor the full budget request for the company in a joint letter submitted to a congressional subcommittee. The letter addressed a $13 million gap between the previously approved House spending package for Ginnie Mae and the $67 million level approved by the Senate this past summer.

While the letter characterized the difference as “relatively small,” the fiscal year 2025 budget projection for Ginnie Mae is that it will generate nearly $1.4 billion in profits next year, the groups noted.