Barclays for the first time will add commercial mortgage-backed securities issued and backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to its U.S. Aggregate and Global Aggregate indexes beginning June 30, 2014, confirmed Brandon Ashcraft, a Barclays spokesman.
In early 2014, Barclays plans to release a stand-alone U.S. agency CMBS benchmark.
Barclays is adding agency CMBS to its indexes due to the recent growth of the sector, according to a Barclays research report released to clients. U.S. agency CMBS “backed by multifamily collateral has grown significantly since the beginning of 2009,” states the portion of the report shared with Pensions & Investments. “Previously, multifamily collateral was included in private CMBS deals.”
Some 244 U.S. agency CMBS bonds amounting to $69.3 billion outstanding would have a market value of 0.4% of the U.S. Aggregate index. Fewer bonds — 78 bonds amounting to $50.6 billion and 0.1% amount outstanding will qualify for the Barclays Global Aggregate.
