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A "Total Return Swap" (TRS) is a contractual arrangement where one party agrees to pay the other the "total return" - coupons plus capital gains or losses of a defined underlying asset - usually in return for receiving a stream of LIBOR-tied cashflows. When the underlying is an S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, this structure facilitates procurement of the economic benefits of housing asset ownership without utilizing the balance sheet (because the swap is not classified as an asset).

Housing TRS involve ongoing payments between the contract counterparties:
    Total Rate of Return Payer: pays periodic S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index performance on a specified notional amount.

    Fixed Rate Payer: pays a funding rate on the same specified notional amount
A total rate of return for housing is computed as follows:
    (Periodic S&PCSI Value / Prior S&PCSI Value – 1)
Housing TRS are customized products with no-front premiums, with monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, annual, or at-contract-expiration periodicity.

Cash Flow Examples
A U.S. housing TRS based on an S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index
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