Vanguard Mortgage-Backed Securities ETF
$44.88−0.48 (−1.07%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.03%
- Fund size
- $17.6B
- 1Y return
- +0.8%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 4.31%
- Volume · 30D
- 1.4M sh
- NAV per share
- $45.33
- 52W range
The ETF.net VMBS Grade
Score 70 of 100 sits in the A band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.AScore 94Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.BScore 56Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.DScore 36Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.BScore 63Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.AScore 87Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 92Category rank
Our read on VMBS
AThe plumbing of the U.S. housing market in one ticker: pooled home loans from Ginnie, Fannie and Freddie, tracked by index for 0.03% a year, with income paid monthly.
The fund seeks moderate and sustainable current income by investing primarily in U.S. agency mortgage-backed pass-through securities issued by GNMA, FNMA, and FHLMC.
Why people hold it
- 0.03% a year is the cheap end of the mortgage-bond aisle: SPMB and MBB charge 0.04%, JMTG 0.24%, and the typical peer runs far higher.
- Agency pass-throughs from GNMA, FNMA and FHLMC. Credit isn't the main variable here; rates and mortgage behavior are.investor.vanguard.com
- Trading since 2009, a multi-billion-dollar fund holding roughly 300 pools and paying monthly. Boring in the way bond ballast is supposed to be.
- Sits in the top quartile of its mortgage-bond peer group, one of the stronger builds in a crowded, look-alike category.
Worth knowing
- Mortgages don't keep a schedule. Homeowners refinance when rates fall, returning cash to reinvest at lower yields; when rates rise, payoffs slow and bonds stretch out.advisors.vanguard.com
- The mandate is current income from one slice of the bond market. No Treasuries, no corporates, no equity kicker.
- Share prices move with interest rates, so this behaves like a bond fund, not a cash parking spot.investor.vanguard.com
VMBS Holdings
- Bonds
- —
- 7%
- MKTLIQ 12/31/2049
VMBS Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | VMBS |
|---|---|
| Year to date | −0.9% |
| 1 month | −1.3% |
| 3 months | −1.7% |
| 1 year | +0.8% |
| 3 years | +4.9% |
| 5 years | +0.1% |
| 10 years | +1.1% |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | VMBS |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | −0.9% | |
| 2025 | +8.4% | |
| 2024 | +1.7% | |
| 2023 | +5.3% | |
| 2022 | −12.0% | |
| 2021 | −1.3% | |
| 2020 | +3.8% |
VMBS in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on VMBS yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
VMBS Dividends
- 4.31%
- $1.96
- $0.17 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2026 | Sep 3, 2026 | $0.17 |
| Aug 3, 2026 | Aug 5, 2026 | $0.17 |
| Jul 1, 2026 | Jul 6, 2026 | $0.16 |
| Jun 1, 2026 | Jun 3, 2026 | $0.16 |
| May 1, 2026 | May 5, 2026 | $0.16 |
| Apr 1, 2026 | Apr 6, 2026 | $0.16 |
| Mar 2, 2026 | Mar 4, 2026 | $0.16 |
| Feb 2, 2026 | Feb 4, 2026 | $0.16 |
| Dec 18, 2025 | Dec 22, 2025 | $0.16 |
| Dec 1, 2025 | Dec 3, 2025 | $0.16 |
| Nov 3, 2025 | Nov 5, 2025 | $0.17 |
| Oct 1, 2025 | Oct 3, 2025 | $0.15 |
VMBS Risk
- 6.2%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- 0.05
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −17.0%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 1.12
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
VMBS Cost
- The middle half of Mortgage-Backed Securities funds
- Median 0.32%
No Mortgage-Backed Securities fund charges less.