Fannie Mae delays mortgage-backed bond sale after volatile day

Fannie Mae delayed a scheduled residential mortgage bond on Thursday due to market volatility spurred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The government sponsored enterprise had kicked off marketing on the deal but postponed a key step in selling the debt, setting initial price guidance, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the transaction is private. The transaction is part of the GSE’s Connecticut Avenue Securities programmatic series of RMBS.

Fannie Mae will monitor the market in coming days to determine appropriate next steps, the people said.

CRTs are tied to mortgages that don’t have government guarantees, but that meet the minimum standards from U.S. backed-Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, including down-payment requirements for borrowers. In these bonds, the GSEs essentially bundle some of the risk of the homeowners defaulting into the bonds so taxpayers don’t have to bear all of it.

Securitized-credit transactions such as Fannie’s mortgage bond are typically last to be affected by macro market volatility, but factors weighing on the market, such as geopolitical concerns and impending Federal Reserve rate hikes, have seeped in and slowed down recent deals as spreads widen slightly.