What does it say about this crazy market market that (a) securitization all but froze towards the back half of last year and (b) that securitizing loans was still more popular than traditional portfolio lending? Inside Mortgage Finance reported Wednesday that securitization as a share of origination activity in 2007 reached a new record high, with portfolio lending accounting for just 25.9 percent of $2.43 trillion in total mortgage production last year. Not surprisingly, the GSEs saw astronomical share growth, too, what with subprime leaving the building with its tail between its legs starting last April or so. Here at HW, we’ve got two thoughts: the annual numbers are likely strongly skewed, showing strong performance through the first half of 2007, followed by … ahem … less-than-strong performance in the back half of the year, so far as securitization activity is concerned. While Citi is making a move away from portfolio lending, there are plenty of other banks using the current downturn as an opportunity to build their core book of business. So it would be interesting to see how that mix is shaping now, with one quarter to go. As HW continues to grow, in the coming months, we’ll begin tracking this information and making it freely available to market participants.

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