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Higher Agency Loan-Size Limit: A Booster Shot in ARMs? 

Securitizations for U.S. agency adjustable-rate mortgages have declined since the 2008 global financial crisis. But could a loan-limit increase by the government-sponsored enterprises, boost issuance of agency-ARM mortgage-backed securities?

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Managing Against MBS Indexes: A Duration Perspective 

Mortgage-backed securities constitute a significant portion of fixed-income indexes. Managing MBS portfolios against these indexes depends heavily on an understanding of the dynamics of MBS duration, especially in volatile markets.

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Chinese RMBS: A Way to Diversify Fixed-Income Portfolios? 

The market in Chinese residential mortgage-backed securities is growing, as global investors are eying the segment’s relatively high yield and potential for diversification, but seeking improved credit ratings and transparency in data and pricing.

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Securitized Products’ LIBOR Transition Picking Up Pace 

In 2021, there has been significant progress in the transition from the LIBOR reference rate to its replacement, SOFR. But investors in securitized products are grappling with the challenge of the LIBOR-SOFR transition and its impact on their analytics.

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A New COVID-19 Regime for MBS? 

In 2020, the Federal Reserve’s purchases of mortgage-backed securities, low interest rates, mortgage-underwriting policy changes and technology advancements led to a historic refinance frenzy and posed an unprecedented challenge for MBS risk management.

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Can MBS Duration Turn Negative? 

As mortgage rates have hit record-breaking lows, prepayment speeds have doubled. With the combination of a high price premium and elevated prepayment speed, could duration of mortgage-backed securities stray into negative territory?

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Are Securitized Products Ready for the LIBOR-SOFR Transition? 

Will the securitization industry be ready for the transition from LIBOR to the secured overnight financing rate (SOFR), as it faces the fact that LIBOR can no longer be guaranteed beyond the end of 2021? As the industry mobilizes, significant challenges remain.

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Could coronavirus depress US housing prices? 

The large economic shocks unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic could be comparable to or even exceed those of the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC). We used our models to assess whether these shocks could hurt U.S. housing prices as much as the GFC did.

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Updating the MSCI Agency MBS model for the COVID-19 crisis 

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely strained U.S. housing finance, distorting near-term prepayment speeds for mortgage-backed securities. With MBS in uncharted territory, we updated the MSCI Agency MBS Model to help investors during the crisis.

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Coronavirus and a potential MBS convexity whipsaw 

Amid rising fears that the human toll of coronavirus will have a significant impact on the global economy, investors have sought safety in Treasurys and driven yields to all-time lows. This rate rally has posed a hedging challenge for investors in mortgage-backed securities.

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MBS prepayment in 2020: Looking back, looking ahead 

Drawing on two decades of U.S. data on MBS prepayment and borrower incentives to refinance, we used our model to look at three potential prepayment themes for 2020.

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A reality check for MBS duration risk 

Empirical duration data can be used to check whether models for mortgage-backed securities are accurately measuring interest-rate risk.

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Fed policy, the credit cycle and real estate 

Amid the uncertainty over Federal Reserve policy, investors in commercial real estate (CRE) are confronting asset-allocation challenges and growing concerns about CRE valuation and debt levels, after an extended period of easy credit.

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Are you ready for uniform MBS? (Part 2) 

Aligning prepayment speeds of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securities presents a major challenge to the success of uniform mortgage-backed securities (UMBS), which the two government-sponsored enterprises will launch on June 3.

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Are You Ready For Uniform MBS? (Part 1) 

Fannie & Freddie will conclude Single Security Initiative (SSI) June 3, 2019, creating a single to-be-announced (TBA) market & a new TBA security: the uniform mortgage-backed security (UMBS)

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How mortgage fees affect rates and spreads 

How could potential changes in U.S. mortgage policy and possible long-term industry trends affect mortgage-related fees and rate spreads?

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Managing MBS risk in a rising rate environment (Part 2) 

Will U.S. homeowners slow down the heady prepayment rate on their mortgages — even if interest rates remain unchanged, thus potentially harming returns of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and extending the duration of these securities?

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Managing MBS risk in a rising rate environment (Part 1) 

Bond investors lost $1 trillion during “the great bond massacre”1 of 1994, which was triggered by the Federal Reserve’s aggressive tightening of interest rates. Many U.S. mortgage-backed securities (MBS) investors and broker-dealers misjudged the risk that fixed-rate prime mortgage borrowers would defer prepayments due to market conditions. This risk — known as “extension risk” — means that borrowers may hold onto mortgages longer than previously expected.