Mortgage Backed Securities: Another Way to Finance Housing

Abstract

The introduction of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) as a channel for housing finance is a relatively recent event for the United States, having occurred less than three-and-a-half decades ago. This paper provides a brief overview of the MBS process in the U.S. The paper places the MBS process in the larger contexts of finance in general and housing finance in particular, discusses its special features and its advantages and disadvantages, addresses its special infrastructure requirements, and describes the historical and recent experiences in the U.S.