The municipal bond credit report is a quarterly report on the trends and statistics of U.S. municipal bond market, both taxable and tax-exempt. Issuance volumes, outstanding, credit spreads, highlights and commentary are included.
Summary
According to Thomson Reuters, long-term public municipal issuance volume totaled $84.6 billion in the third quarter of 2017, a decline of 16.0 percent from the prior quarter ($100.7 billion) and a decline of 22.0 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) ($108.7 billion). As of the end of September, year-to-date municipal issuance totaled $271.8 billion and was generally in line with the 10-year average of $271.6 billion for the first three quarters of the year. Including private placements ($3.1 billion), long-term municipal issuance for 3Q’17 was $87.6 billion.
Tax-exempt issuance totaled $75.2 billion in 3Q’17, a decline of 14.0 percent q-o-q and a decline of 23.7 percent y-o-y; year to date, tax-exempt issuance was $239.1 billion. Taxable issuance totaled $5.9 billion in 3Q’17, a decline of 37.3 percent q-o-q and 25.1 percent y‑o‑y; year to date, taxable issuance totaled $22.7 billion. AMT issuance was $3.5 billion in 3Q’17, a decline of 7.9 percent q-o-q but an increase of 49.4 percent y-o-y; year to date, AMT volumes were $10.0 billion year to date ending September.
By use of proceeds, general purpose led issuance totals in 3Q’17 ($20.2 billion), followed by primary & secondary education ($15.5 billion) and higher education ($7.8 billion). Refunding volumes rose slightly to comprise 44.1 percent of issuance in 3Q’17 from 41.4 percent in the prior quarter but declined from 52.4 percent from the third quarter of 2016.