COVID-19 pandemic concerns, including the prospect of mortgage and rent payments not being made, have severely depressed the market prices of REITs. This includes mREITs and even agency mREITs. The payments of principal and interest by agency mortgage-backed securities held by the mREITs are guaranteed by the federal government or its agencies and instrumentalities. Thus, agency mortgage-backed securities have no credit risk. However, agency mREITs such as AGNC Investment Corp. (AGNC), ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc. (ARR) and Orchid Island Capital, Inc. (ORC) have declined drastically.
From February 20, 2020