Survey: MBS Issuance to Plunge in '04

Sell-side debt market participants expect mortgage-backed securities issuance to decline 48%, to $1.6 trillion, in 2004, according to a new survey by The Bond Market Association.The median survey response indicates that members of the association are anticipating a 47.8% dropoff in agency MBS issuance and a 51.3% reduction in private-label MBS activity. This would bring total agency MBS issuance to $1.06 trillion this year and reduce private-label MBS issuance to $256 billion. TBMA can be found on the Web at http://www.bondmarkets.com.