Ginnie Mae issued $44.73bn in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) in August. While that’s down from $46.1bn in MBS issued in July, Ginnie Mae has provided $297bn in liquidity through the first eight months of 2009, up from $162bn during the same period of 2008. Ginnie Mae I single-family pools totaled $25.2bn and Ginnie Mae II single-family pools accounted for nearly $19bn. Issuance for single-family homes accounted for more than $44.2bn in August, while multifamily MBS issuance was nearly $518m. “The importance of Ginnie Mae in the current economic environment cannot be underestimated,” said Ginnie Mae acting executive vice president Thomas Weakland. “The stability provided by a government-backed mortgage-backed security program is critical to bring liquidity to our nation’s housing market.” MBS issued through the Ginnie Mae I pool are backed by loans issued from the same lender, with the same interest rate, must be for the same type of property (i.e. single-family homes) and are federally insured or guaranteed. Ginnie Mae II pools are multiple-issuer pools. The share of agency MBS issuance — including Ginnie Mae — has swelled since 2006, rising to 97% of the market share in 2008 as private-label issuance dries up. The growing presence of Ginnie Mae securities has the industry and its regulators looking at potential changes to the structure of the government-sponsored entities (GSEs) in the securitization market. Write to Austin Kilgore.