The Government National Mortgage Association — or Ginnie Mae — guaranteed more than $32.6bn in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) in April, $31.5bn of which is secured by single-family residential loans. The rate of seriously delinquent mortgages 90+ days past due improved 17 basis points to 1.85% in March, from 2.02% in February. At the same time, the delinquency rate at Freddie Mac (FRE) dropped to 4.13% in March, from 4.2% in February. At Fannie Mae (FNM), the rate inched up to 5.59% in February, the last month of data. “As we all know, these past few years have been most challenging for the housing market,” said Ginnie president Theodore Tozer, in a statement. “Without missing a beat, Ginnie Mae has stepped up when the private sector couldn’t to ensure millions of consumers had access to 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages.” Ginnie issued $31.5bn of single-family residential MBS in April. Issuance for Ginnie Mae II single-family pools totaled more than $18.9bn, while Ginnie Mae I single-family pools totaled $12.6bn. For the second month so far in 2010, Ginnie’s multifamily MBS issuance topped $1bn. Ginnie securitizes mortgages insured or guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development service. Ginnie said in April it is planning to cut the minimum loan quota for lenders to make a delivery into the multi-lender program for securitization down from three loans to one, possibly by the June issue. Tozer told HousingWire another change in the works involves Ginnie’s multi-issuer program and is scheduled to possibly come online in November. Lenders will be able to have their pools issued more often, freeing up warehouse lines and keeping liquidity moving into new mortgages. Write to Diana Golobay. Disclosure: the author holds no relevant investments.