AG's Scratchin' Post

[Alex G]

Wanna Buy A Mortgage Bond?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/04/wanna_buy_a_mortgage_bond.html#more
April 29, 2010

For the first time since the wheels came off the housing market a few years back, somebody's selling a mortgage-backed bond that isn't backed by the U.S. government.

Not surprisingly, this bond -- which answers to the name "Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2010-H1" -- is made up of some very low-risk mortgages.

Basically, it's the opposite of some of the crazy mortgage-backed bonds sold during the boom (sorry, Toxie), which were full of loans to borrowers with weak credit and little or no home equity.

Calculated Risk points out a few of the key details on the new bond:

It includes 253 mortgages, with an total principal balance of about $238 million

The average loan-to-value ratio is 53%

Borrowers' weighted FICO score is 768

The bond was created by Citigroup and a real estate company called Redwood Trust.

For a little more news on the mortgage-bond front, check out this Bloomberg News story on a new set of indexes that will track the performance of mortgage-backed bonds issued in 2006 and 2007.

These indexes make the market for mortgages more transparent. They also make it easier for people to speculate on mortgages.