Residential mortgage backed securities and mortgage covered bonds in housing finance and their implementation in Turkey

Housing finance system includes the primary markets where the lenders provide loans to homebuyers and the secondary markets in which these loans are funded by deposits, residential mortgage backed securities or mortgage covered bonds through the capital markets. Residential mortgage backed securities developed in the US and then spread out to the world. Mortgage covered bonds is a tool widely used in Europe.An effective housing finance system consists of the institutions, instruments and processes that creat the required funding in long term and low cost for the customers who are willing to become homeowners. On the first hand, stable economy with a reasonable inflation and interest rates is required to meet these goals. After realizing these economical and financials priorities the lenders start to diversify their resources to residential mortgage backed securities or mortgage covered bonds as alternatives to deposits for getting new resources.A healthy housing finance system has not been able to develop in Turkey due to high interest rates as a result of long term high inflation. But recent positive developments on these indicators and more stable economic structure have made it possible to creat the required funds through financial system to become a homeowner. As a result of this, a group of regulations and necessary institutional structure has been formed. The regulations also have the infrastructure for issuing residential mortgage backed securities and mortgage covered bonds. Although there is no issue yet financial system has these new tools in case the continuity of the economic stability and improvement of the system can be kept.Key Words: Housing Finance in Turkey. Securititization. Residential Mortgage Backed Securities. Mortgage Covered Bonds.