Mortgage Loans and the role of the Secondary Market
The secondary market is where mortgage loans are sold by mortgage lenders and banks and purchased by investors. The secondary market provides a number of benefits for mortgage originators and mortgage lenders, which in turn provides benefits to home loan borrowers.
In order for the secondary mortgage market to work effectively and efficiently, uniform mortgage lending standards needed to be established. The secondary market promoted standardization and uniformity of credit requirements, loan types and loan documents and required forms. This standardization could be a detriment to those potential home loan borrowers that needed special financing but a standardized market improves mortgage rates and greatly facilitates the home loan borrower’s process of comparing and shopping mortgage rates and terms.
Providing liquidity to the mortgage market so that mortgage lenders and investors can buy and sell home loans is the primary value and function of the secondary market. A market to buy and sells mortgage loans allows the mortgage lenders to offer competitive mortgage rates and keep and continual flow of funds available for mortgage lending.
The secondary mortgage market permits mortgage lenders to obtain cash required to fund new home loans at any time. The liquidity in the secondary market also encourages investors to participate and purchase home loan and mortgage backed securities, as the investors can be confident that the home loans can be readily sold at a later time if necessary. The liquidity in the market provides a constant flow of new money into real estate finance that helps to maintain and orderly and competitive market.
Liquidity that is inherent in the secondary market also allows the mortgage lenders to manage their interest rate risk. Mortgage lenders not only have the ability to sell the mortgage loans they originate but they can buy mortgage loans with different terms and mortgage rates to maintain a diversified mortgage loan portfolio. An investor in mortgage loans or a mortgage lender can buy home loans with different mortgage rates and within different geographic areas.
From the mortgage lenders perspective, risk that is in mortgage lending that can be ameliorated through the secondary mortgage market includes interest rate risk, liquidity of funds risks and potential default risk through loan portfolio diversification.
The major institutions that which invest in the secondary mortgage market include the Federal National Mortgage Association or FNMA, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation or FHLMC, the Government National Mortgage Association or GNMA and a variety of banks and institutional investors.
FNMA, FHLMC and GNMA are government sponsored enterprises that guarantee mortgage loans, purchase mortgage loans and establish portfolios of loans for sale as mortgage backed securities. FNMA and FHLMC operate with conforming loans while GNMA handles FHA home loans and VA home loans. The majority of home loans that are closed meet the lending criteria that are established by one of these entities. Home loans that are originated that do not meet the guidelines established by these entities are often referred to as portfolio loans since the mortgage lender is not concerned about loan resale and holds the mortgage loan for their own portfolio.