Fannie Mae Multifamily Issuance Climbs Above $33B in 2012

""Fannie Mae's"":http://www.fanniemae.com/portal/index.html multifamily issuance increased nearly $10 billion from 2011 to 2012, the GSE announced.

According to a release, the enterprise issued approximately $10.8 billion of multifamily mortgage-backed securities (MBS) in Q4 2012, backed by new multifamily loans delivered by its lenders.

Total issuance for all of 2012 was an estimated $33.1 billion, up from $23.8 billion in the previous year.

""Market activity for our securities was robust in 2012 with total issuance topping $33 billion,"" said Kimberly Johnson, SVP of Multifamily Capital Markets at Fannie Mae. ""Issuance was particularly strong in the fourth quarter, in part due to the Fed's aggressive bond-buying program, which has helped to keep borrowing costs at record lows. Private-sector lending has shown signs of growth as well, adding liquidity for all market participants.""

Fannie Mae also announced it resecuritized $2.2 billion of Delegated Underwriting and Servicing (DUS) MBS through its Guaranteed Multifamily Structures (GeMS) program in Q4, bringing total GeMS issuance to $10 billion throughout 2012.

In addition, dealers issued three multifamily real estate mortgage investment conduits (REMICs) backed by $1.1 billion of DUS MBS in Q4. The combined Fannie Mae GeMS and alternative credit enhancement securities (ACES) issuance backed by DUS MBS totaled $13.9 billion throughout 2012.

According to the release, Fannie Mae's Capital Markets sold approximately $1.9 billion of multifamily mortgage securities from its portfolio in Q4 2012, down $4.9 billion in Q3 and $2.8 billion in Q4 2011.