Ginnie Mae securitization of single-family mortgage securities backed by USDA loans fell in the first quarter of 2017. One-time leader Chase Home Finance was in fifth place after a whopping 31.6 percent decline in USDA activity and an even larger 87.4 percent drop year over year. A total of $4.6 billion in USDA loans were securitized in Ginnie Mae pools during the first three months of 2017, down 9.5 percent from the previous quarter. On the other hand, year-over-year securitization of USDA home loans rose 17.6 percent. Top-ranked Freedom Mortgage and 7th-ranked Ditech Financial each reported a tenfold increase in USDA volume year over year. Freedom Mortgage led the market with $887.3 million despite a 20.4 percent decline from the prior quarter Second-ranked PennyMac closed the quarter with $661.6 million of securitized USDA loans, while Wells Fargo reported a 9.3 percent decrease to ... [Chart]