Resumen de Hedge funds and the housing bubble

Christos I. Giannikos, Hany Guirguis, Panagiotis Schizas

• This article documents that hedge funds specializing in subprime mortgages did not take advantage of the housing bubble and they did not trade against it. Hedge fund capitalization is an important factor regarding how funds suffered during the crisis. Small funds suffered the most. Mid-cap portfolio relied on macroeconomic indicators (subprime foreclosures) and, as a result, suffered less compared to their peers above. Duration and quality of the credit instruments are significant factors in explaining hedge fund returns. Naturally, our study, in line with the existing literature during turbulent periods, documents that the lack of liquidity was a key driver of performance.