CHIMERA INVESTMENT CORP

The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes to those statements included in Item 15 of this 2023 Form 10-K. The discussion may contain certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are those that are not historical in nature. As a result of many factors, such as those set forth under “Risk Factors” in this 2023 Form 10-K, our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements.

This section of the 2023 Form 10-K generally discusses 2023 and 2022 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2023 and 2022. Discussions of 2021 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2022 and 2021 that are not included in this 2023 Form 10-K can be found in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022.

Executive Summary

We are a publicly traded REIT that is primarily engaged in the business of investing directly or having a beneficial interest in a diversified portfolio of mortgage assets, including residential mortgage loans, Non-Agency RMBS, Agency RMBS, Agency CMBS, business purpose and investor loans, and other real estate-related assets. The MBS and other real estate-related securities we purchase may include investment-grade, non-investment grade, and non-rated classes. We use leverage to increase potential returns from our investments. Our principal business objective is to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns through the generation of distributable income and through asset performance linked to mortgage credit fundamentals. We selectively invest in residential mortgage assets with a focus on credit analysis, projected prepayment rates, interest rate sensitivity and expected return.

We currently focus our investment activities primarily on acquiring residential mortgage loans. In addition, we acquire and own Non-Agency RMBS and Agency mortgage-backed securities, or MBS. At December 31, 2023, based on the fair value of our interest earning assets, approximately 91% of our investment portfolio was residential mortgage loans, 8% of our investment portfolio was Non-Agency RMBS, and 1% of our investment portfolio was Agency MBS. At December 31, 2022, based on the fair value of our interest earning assets, approximately 88% of our investment portfolio was residential mortgage loans, 9% of our investment portfolio was Non-Agency RMBS, and 3% of our investment portfolio was Agency MBS.

We use leverage to seek to increase our potential returns and to finance the acquisition of our assets. We expect to finance our investments using a variety of financing sources, including securitizations, warehouse facilities and repurchase agreements. We may seek to manage our debt and interest rate risk by utilizing interest rate hedges, such as interest rate swaps, caps, options and futures to reduce the effect of interest rate fluctuations related to our financing sources.

Our investment strategy is intended to take advantage of opportunities in the current interest rate and credit environment. We adjust our strategy in response to changing market conditions by shifting our asset allocations across various asset classes as interest rate and credit cycles change over time. We believe that our strategy will provide us an opportunity to pay dividends throughout changing market cycles. We expect to take a long-term view of assets and liabilities.

Business Update

2023 was a dramatic year for the fixed income markets highlighted by geo-political events, tight monetary conditions, high interest rate volatility, and several regional bank failures. The year began with market optimism for an economic soft-landing, which gave way in March as bank failures induced an investor’s flight-to-quality driving interest rates lower and credit spreads wider. By summer, concerns about high inflation and a potential recession intensified. Interest rates subsequently reversed course and moved higher. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note reached a low yield of 3.3% in early April and then rose to a yearly high of 5% by the middle of October, a 50% increase in yield from the low. Market sentiment began to shift more favorably in November, as positive economic data suggested the Federal Reserve was beginning to win its battle with inflation. Products across the fixed income and equity markets rallied for the remainder of 2023 with investor expectations of the Federal Reserve easing interest rates in 2024.

The fourth quarter of 2023 was a pivotal quarter for the fixed income market. The 10-year Treasury yield dropped nearly 115 basis points within a month, resulting in a sweeping and powerful bond rally. Lower yields boosted equity valuations substantially, contributing to a broad-based rally, with the S&P 500 generating a 12% gain for the fourth quarter. Housing markets continued to show resiliency, with home price indices showing nationwide increases, although the overall volume of existing home sales remained low due to high mortgage rates and low housing inventory available for sale. The rate for 30-year mortgages reached a peak in 2023 of nearly 8%. The mortgage rate fell as a result of the late-year market rally and settled back to the high-6% range by the end of the year, creating some relief to the housing affordability crisis.

Investment activity during 2023

Higher interest rate volatility, along with a continued yield curve inversion in 2023, presented many challenges throughout the year impacting our business activity and performance. During 2023, we acquired $1.4 billion of residential mortgage loans, down from $1.7 billion in 2022 and $3.2 billion in 2021. We were diligent in diversifying our loan purchases in 2023. Of the settled loans, approximately 50% were seasoned re-performing loans ("RPL"), 33% were non-QM, and the remainder were Business Purpose Loans (BPL). Apart from BPLs, all loans purchased were financed for the long-term through securitization. The loan characteristics of the seasoned RPLs and BPLs were consistent with the characteristics which currently exist in our portfolio. During the fourth quarter we committed to purchasing $152 million residential BPLs which we expect to settle in the first quarter of 2024. Due to the short duration of these loans, we plan to finance them with our existing loan warehouse facilities.

Secured Financing Activity during 2023

Our financing costs continued to increase and remained high throughout 2023. The Federal Reserve increased its target rate four times for a total of 100 basis points and Fed officials provided additional commentary during the early part of 2023 for market participants to expect higher rates for a longer period. Managing our floating rate liabilities through this period of high volatility and increasing rates, remained amongst the top priorities of management. Management was keenly focused, throughout the year, on strengthening our liability structure through proactive portfolio management (selling non-core assets) and securitization, which provides long-term, fixed rate, non-recourse financing.

In January, we exited a maturing $141 million non-mark-to-market secured financing facility and separately entered a new non-mark-to-market secured facility with a different counterparty for principal amount borrowed of $125 million. The new facility has a maturity date in January 2025. While we were able to successfully obtain new financing on our maturing facility, the financing cost on the new facility was considerably higher due to market volatility and the overall interest rate environment at that time.

In the fourth quarter, we refinanced $250 million of an existing high cost, fixed-rate financing facility into a new two-year limited mark-to-market variable-rate facility. Although the new facility is variable-rate, it carries an interest rate cap that is significantly below the previous facility and will represent considerable interest expense savings through the term of the new facility.

On a year-over-year basis, our secured financing agreements (recourse liabilities) decreased by $1.0 billion while increasing our securitized debt (non-recourse liabilities) by $498 million. At year-end, we had no outstanding warehouse financing exposure (recourse liabilities) backed by residential re-performing loans ("RPL"). Our repo funding costs increased by 90 basis-points during the year, consistent with increases in the federal funds rates over the period.

Securitization Activity during 2023

The total market issuance of residential re-performing loans ("RPL") was substantially reduced on a year-over-year basis. We estimate a total gross issuance amongst all issuers of $9 billion RPL for all of 2023 relative to $17 billion RPL for 2022. RPL securitization represents 94% of our total loan securitizations. Despite lower issuance, Chimera maintained a top issuer status of RPL deals during 2023. Our ability to securitize is not limited to RPL and we will continue to seek to optimize our liability structure through securitization which provides long-term non-recourse financing for our residential mortgage loan portfolio.

During the year, we remained active in the securitization market and sold $841 million of re-performing loans into three securitizations in challenging market conditions. We issued $662 billion of new debt at an average advance rate of 80%, locking in long-term financing while giving the company the option to call the debt, and refinance when rates become more favorable in the future. We believe we were one of the top issuers of RPL deals during the year.

In addition, we sponsored two rated securitizations of Non-Agency Investor residential mortgage loans, having a principal balance of $475 million. Securities issued by these securitizations with an aggregate balance of approximately $408 million, were sold in a private placement to institutional investors. These securities represented approximately 86% of the capital structure. We retained an option to call the securitized mortgage loans at any time beginning in the second quarter 2026.

Re-Securitization Activity during 2023

As part of our ongoing liquidity and liability initiative, during the year we were able to extract cash from some of our existing securitizations (due to deleveraging over the years) through re-securitization activity.

In January, we exercised our call rights and terminated four existing securitization trusts, CIM 2020-R4, CIM 2020-NR1, CIM 2018-R5 and CIM 2018-R6, and issued CIM Trust 2023-R1 and CIM Trust 2023-NR1 (commonly referred to as re-securitization). Though the interest rate was higher on the newly issued 2023 trusts, the re-securitizations enabled us to improve our balance sheet structure (as discussed above) and pay off maturing repo with Credit Suisse. We successfully converted $139 million of recourse financing into long-term, non-mark-to-market securitized debt while re-capturing approximately $90 million in cash from the terminated trusts. We estimate the re-securitization activity increased our cost of senior debt financing by approximately 250 basis points compared to the terminated trusts. Both securitizations are callable within two-years which gives us the ability to refinance the securitized debt should interest rates improve in the future.

In April, we exercised our call rights and terminated two existing securitization trusts: CIM 2017-7, and CMLTI 2019-E. In addition to the collateral received by calling these two securitizations, we added an additional $104 million in collateral and issued CIM Trust 2023-R3 and CIM Trust 2023-NR2 (commonly referred to as re-securitization). Though the interest rate was higher on the newly issued 2023 trusts, the interest rate on the senior debt from these deals called were due to an embedded step-up feature to a higher rate. We successfully converted $86 million of recourse financing into long-term, non-mark-to-market securitized debt while re-capturing approximately $43 million cash from the terminated trusts. We estimate the re-securitization activity increased our cost of senior debt financing by approximately 128 basis points compared to the terminated trusts. We were able to negotiate a two-year call on CIM 2023-R3 and a one-year call on CIM 2023-NR2. We are in a position to refinance these structures if rates are lower.

Over the full year 2023, we sponsored $2.6 billion in securitizations (including re-securitizations). These securitizations helped us further strengthen our balance sheet as we prepared for a higher-for-longer interest rate environment.

Asset sales and portfolio composition

Given the challenging operating environment, ongoing liquidity needs, and opportunities to purchase new assets with higher yields, we rebalanced a portion of our investment portfolio that included the sale of some non-core assets. Overall, we sold $344 million Agency CMBS Securities. These sales resulted in a recognized loss of $31.2 million.

Considering the overall investment purchases, sales, and securitization activities, at year end our portfolio consisted of 91% residential mortgage loans, 8% Non-Agency RMBS, and 1% Agency MBS on a fair value basis. Our Agency portfolio was reduced by $328 million year-over-year through a combination of paydowns and sales activities.

Hedging transactions during 2023

We engaged in a series of interest rate hedges to help mitigate the impact of higher interest rates on our future financing and soften the impact of higher interest rates on the overall portfolio value. Our hedging strategies are dynamic. In 2023 we were focused on limiting the impact of higher interest rates, while maintaining optionality for our portfolio to benefit from lower interest rates in the future. The execution of this strategy was challenging due to heightened volatility from the events previously discussed, the magnitude of the overall rate movement and the shape of the yield curve. Over the year, we initiated and terminated a series of pay-fixed interest rate swaps and pay-fixed swaptions which created a realized loss of $45 million for the year. As of December 31, 2023, we maintained open positions in a $1.0 billion 3.26% pay-fixed interest rate swap maturing May 2024 and a $1.5 billion one-year option on a one-year pay-fixed interest rate swap "1 X 1" with maturities in early 2025. If the swaptions are executed, the 1-year interest swaps will carry a blended fixed rate of 3.56%. We believe these hedge positions will help us to achieve our goals.

Considering the velocity and magnitude of interest rate movements, in 2023 we also initiated a hedging program to manage the interest rate risk for the time differential between loan purchase commitment and the closing of loans into securitization. In addition, we used a combination of various U.S. Treasury futures contracts to hedge our exposure to future financing costs. Chimera’s hedging techniques attempt to mitigate the interest rate risk but do not capture the impact of credit spread risk. As of December 31, 2023, we did not have any loan and/or securitization commitments or related hedge positions.

Market Conditions and our Strategy

2023 was an interesting year with many challenges and opportunities. To combat inflation, the Fed ramped up interest rates to levels we have not seen in decades. The stock market was expected to decline under this new interest rate environment but returns for all major indices were much stronger than expected. The last two years have been volatile, with stocks falling hard from their January 2022 peak and then whipsawing back throughout 2023. And we’re starting to see similar whipsaw action when it comes to mortgage rates. However mortgage rates haven’t returned to January 2022 levels, and the expectation is they will not return to those levels in 2024. Home prices are also holding up extremely well with prices a few percentage points higher than they were at this time last year. Overall, the housing market has been incredibly resilient in the face of economic uncertainty. The potential for Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2024 got most of the investor attention over the last few weeks of the fourth quarter, but several additional factors drove earning results this quarter including data on cooling inflation and the refinancing of our high-cost debt in October.

For the full year 2023, spreads on most fixed income sectors were volatile. Spreads then tightened in the later part of the year as investors received positive economic data regarding inflation. Securitized products spreads tightened substantially over the year, retracing much of the widening that occurred in 2022. Specific to the mortgage sectors, commercial real estate started to see some silver linings with lower cap rates, while Residential MBS and other ABS sectors saw tighter spreads and more issuance (tempered in RMBS by low mortgage origination). The CLO market continued to see strong returns and Agency mortgage spreads tightened substantially as prepayment rates stabilized and interest rate volatility began to decrease.

The outlook for 2024 shows signs of a more stable interest rate landscape and more normalized returns. We are positioned for a higher-for-longer rate cycle, and we continue to believe the market can experience some headwinds due to large government deficit spending (and financing needs), geopolitical events and the upcoming 2024 presidential election.

Book value impact

Given the interest rate volatility during the year, the portfolio valuations remained volatile and ended the year with valuations ranging from flat to slightly down. However, realized losses on derivatives, net dilution from capital markets activity, asset sales as noted previously along with dividend distribution in excess of net income during the year lead to a decline in book value. Our book value per common share was $6.75, as of December 31, 2023, as compared to $7.49 as of December 31, 2022. We declared $0.70 common stock dividends per share in 2023. Our economic return on book value, which includes overall change in book value for the period plus dividends was -0.53% for the full year of 2023. The total rate of return on our common stock, including dividend reinvestment, was 3.0% for 2023.

Operating expenses

Operating expenses for the year were lower by 17%, driven mainly by lower compensation of 38% during the year. G&A and servicing expenses remained consistent year over year. Transaction expenses were significantly lower during the second half of the year on account of limited securitization activity. As noted above, we have purchased additional hedges to protect our earnings against rising interest rates.

Capital Markets activity during 2023

Persistently high and volatile interest rates through much of 2023 caused a significant decline in our earnings and a reduction in the common stock dividend brought it more in line with our earnings capability. During the fourth quarter, a less hawkish tone began to set in and while asset yields remained high, it provided us with an opportunity to raise equity and be able to invest in higher yielding assets.

Share repurchase: In June, our Board of Directors announced an increase in common stock buyback authorization by $73 million to $250 million. After this announcement the company repurchased 5.8 million of common stock at an average price of $5.66 for a total of $33 million during the year ended December 31, 2023. In January 2024, the Company's Board of Directors updated the authorization to include the Company's preferred stock into the Repurchase Program and increased the authorization by $33 million back up to $250 million. The quarterly dividend was reduced from $0.23 in the first quarter to $0.11 in the fourth quarter of 2023 as the company looked to align its dividend payout with our earnings outlook.

ATM Program: We issued approximately 14.5 million shares of our common stock at an average price of $5.09 for a total of $74 million during the year ended December 31, 2023.

Strategy going forward.

We continue to manage our portfolio consistent with our belief that interest rates will be higher on a relative basis for longer, despite the change in market sentiment at the end of the year. For the full year we reduced our total recourse financing exposure by $1 billion. We continue to seek opportunities to finance our retained notes from securitizations with long-term, limited, or non-mark-to market finance facilities. We currently have 60% of our recourse financings with these facilities. To further manage our interest rate risk, we intend to use financial derivatives such as futures, interest rate swaps and swaptions to hedge against securitization executions, net interest margin compression and the protection of our book value.

Cash management is critical to our business. We monitor our ongoing needs for margin, repurchase financing maturities, liquidity, and new investments. Over time, we expect to continue to acquire and securitize mortgage loans as well as further implement the company’s call optimization strategy on our securitizations. With available funds, we plan to evaluate the merits of any new investments and compare them to the merits of repurchasing outstanding common and preferred stock, or reducing higher cost liabilities as they mature. The timing of these re-securitizations is impacted by many factors, including credit performance, prepayment speeds and interest rates.

As we navigate current market conditions, we are focused on maintaining low recourse leverage and managing our liquidity with a proper balance of both cash and unencumbered securities. Our credit portfolio continued to perform well in the fourth quarter. Our current credit performance on our portfolio continues to be within, or better than, our original investment expectations on mortgage delinquencies, default rates, and recoveries. We monitor our portfolio regularly and seek opportunities to improve upon our liquidity, capital structure and investment returns. We have historically achieved success through re-securitization and have a substantial amount of capital that can be re-captured in the future. We believe there will be ample opportunity to extract additional portfolio value when interest rates moderate and the capital markets improve.

Over the course of the low-rate environment that persisted for many years (prior to the last two years of higher rates), our investment portfolio was able to generate an above market risk premium for our shareholders compared to the risk premium available on assets in the broad market. Over the last two years we have seen a decline in risk premium and a steep increase in financing costs due to Fed tightening and an inverted yield curve. We believe this will begin to reverse as the Fed eventually moves back to lower rates. Looking forward, we are committed to resetting, managing, executing, and aligning the risk premium to be in line with or above the market risk premium available for the investments available in the broad market.

Business Operations

Net Income (Loss) Summary

The table below presents our net income (loss) on a GAAP basis for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021.

(1) Includes interest income of consolidated VIEs of $593,384, $551,253, and $586,580 for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, respectively.

(2) Includes interest expense of consolidated VIEs of $282,542, $197,823, and $203,135 for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, respectively.

Our primary source of income is interest income earned on our assets, net of interest expense paid on our financing liabilities.

The volatility in the interest rate and MBS markets during 2023 as discussed above resulted in an increase in our interest expense and muted market pricing improvements on our portfolio as compared to 2022. For the year ended December 31, 2023, our net income available to common shareholders was $52 million, or $0.23 per average basic common share, compared to a net loss of $587 million, or $2.51 per average basic common share for the year ended December 31, 2022. During the year ended December 31, 2023, we had net interest income of $263 million and unrealized gains on financial instruments at fair value of $34 million, offset in part by operating expenses of $104 million, preferred stock dividend of $74 million, realized losses on sales of investment of $31 million, and net losses derivative of $30 million. The increase in net income available to common shareholders for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, was primarily driven by an increase in unrealized gains on financial instruments at fair value of $771 million which was partially offset by an increase in interest expense of $176 million.

The net loss available for the year ended December 31, 2022 was primarily driven by mark-to-market losses on our portfolio's asset prices due to continued increases in interest rates and credit spread widening. During the year ended December 31, 2022, we had net unrealized losses on financial instruments at fair value of $737 million, other expenses of $124 million and net realized losses on sale of investment of $76 million, partially offset by net interest income of $440 million.

Interest Income

Interest income remained relatively unchanged at $773 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. During the year ended December 31, 2023, the yields on our average interest earning assets increased by 10 basis points at 5.7%, as compared to 5.6% for the year ended December 31, 2022. Our average interest earning assets decreased by $268 million to $13.4 billion as compared to $13.6 billion from the same period of 2022.

We reduced our Agency MBS and Non-Agency RMBS positions by $381 million and $160 million, respectively, and increased our Loans held for investments by $273 million during 2023 as compared to 2022. Due to these changes in our portfolio our Agency MBS and Non-Agency RMBS interest income decreased by $30 million and $30 million, respectively, during the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022. This decrease was offset by an increase in interest income of $53 million on our Loans held for investment portfolio during the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022.

Interest Expense

Interest expense increased by $177 million, or 53%, to $510 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to $333 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. This increase in our interest expense during the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the same period of 2022, was primarily driven by the increases in borrowing rates on our secured financing agreements and securitized debt, due to increases in the Federal Funds Rate.

The interest expense on our securitized debt increased by $83 million during the year ended December 31, 2023, as the average borrowing rates on our securitizations increased by 90 basis points as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. During the year ended December 31, 2023, our interest expense on secured financing agreements collateralized by Loans held for investments and Non-Agency RMBS increased by $42 million and $33 million, respectively, due to the higher Federal Funds Rate as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022.

Economic Net Interest Income

Our Economic net interest income is a non-GAAP financial measure that equals GAAP net interest income adjusted for net periodic interest cost of interest rate swaps and excludes interest earned on cash. For the purpose of computing economic net interest income and ratios relating to cost of funds measures throughout this section, interest expense includes net payments on our interest rate swaps, which is presented as a part of Net gains (losses) on derivatives in our Consolidated Statements of Operations. Interest rate swaps are used to manage the increase in interest paid on secured financing agreements in a rising rate environment. Presenting the net contractual interest payments on interest rate swaps with the interest paid on interest-bearing liabilities reflects our total contractual interest payments. We believe this presentation is useful to investors because it depicts the economic value of our investment strategy by showing all components of interest expense and net interest income of our investment portfolio. However, Economic net interest income should not be viewed in isolation and is not a substitute for net interest income computed in accordance with GAAP. Where indicated, interest expense, adjusting for any interest earned on cash, is referred to as Economic interest expense. Where indicated, net interest income reflecting net periodic interest cost of interest rate swaps and any interest earned on cash, is referred to as Economic net interest income.

The following table reconciles the Economic net interest income to GAAP net interest income and Economic interest expense to GAAP interest expense for the periods presented.

(1) Primarily interest income on cash and cash equivalents and interest expense on Long-term debt.

Net Interest Rate Spread

The following table shows our average earning assets held, interest earned on assets, yield on average interest earning assets, average debt balance, economic interest expense, economic average cost of funds, economic net interest income and net interest rate spread for the periods presented.

Economic Net Interest Income and the Average Earning Assets

Our Economic net interest income (which is a non-GAAP measure, see “Economic net interest income” discussion earlier for details) decreased by $165 million to $271 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 from $436 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. Our net interest rate spread, which equals the yield on our average interest-earning assets less the economic average cost of funds, decreased by 130 basis points for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the same period of 2022. The net interest margin, which equals the Economic net interest income as a percentage of the net average balance of our interest-earning assets less our interest-bearing liabilities, decreased by 120 basis points for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the same period of 2022. Our Average net interest-earning assets decreased by $240 million to $2.1 billion for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to $2.4 billion for the same period of 2022. The decrease in our net interest rate spread for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022 is primarily due to higher interest expense on our securitized debt collateralized by loans and secured financing agreements driven by higher Federal Funds Rate.

Economic Interest Expense and the Cost of Funds

The borrowing rate at which we are able to finance our assets using secured financing agreements is typically correlated to SOFR and the term of the financing. The borrowing rate on the majority of our securitized debt is fixed and correlated to the term of the financing. The table below shows our average borrowed funds, Economic interest expense, average cost of funds (inclusive of periodic interest costs on swaps), average one-month SOFR, average three-month SOFR and average one-month SOFR relative to average three-month SOFR.

Average interest-bearing liabilities decreased by $28 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. Economic interest expense increased by $157 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022 due to the increases in our secured financing agreements and securitized debt borrowing rates driven by higher Federal Funds Rates. While we may use interest rate hedges to mitigate risks related to changes in interest rate, the hedges may not fully offset interest expense movements.

Provision for Credit Losses

For the year ended December 31, 2023, we recorded an increase in provision for credit losses of $4 million, to $11 million, as compared to the provision of credit losses of $7 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase in provision for credit losses for the year ended December 31, 2023 is primarily due to an increase in expected losses and delinquencies. In addition, certain Non-Agency RMBS positions, now have higher unrealized losses and resulted in the recognition of an allowance for credit losses which was previously limited by unrealized gains on these investments.

Net Gains (Losses) on Derivatives

We use derivatives to economically hedge the effects of changes in interest rates on our portfolio, specifically our secured financing agreements. Unrealized gains and losses include the change in market value, period over period, on our derivatives portfolio. Changes in market value are generally a result of changes in interest rates. We may or may not ultimately realize these unrealized derivative gains and losses depending on trade activity, changes in interest rates and the values of the underlying securities. The net gains and losses on our derivatives include both unrealized and realized gains and losses. Realized gains and losses include the net cash paid and received on our interest rate swaps during the period as well as sales, terminations and settlements of our swaps, swaptions and U.S. Treasury futures.

The table below shows a summary of our net gains (losses) on derivative instruments, for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, respectively.

During the year ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, we recognized total net losses on derivatives of $30 million and $4 million, respectively. Unrealized gains and losses include the change in market value, period over period, on our derivatives portfolio. Changes in market value are generally a result of changes in interest rates. We may or may not ultimately realize these unrealized derivative gains and losses depending on trade activity, changes in interest rates and the values of the underlying securities.

The weighted average pay rate on our interest rate swaps at December 31, 2023 was 3.26% and the weighted average receive rate was 5.40%. At December 31, 2023, the weighted average maturity on our interest rate swaps was less than one year. The weighted average pay rate on our interest rate swaps at December 31, 2022 was 4.07% and the weighted average receive rate was 4.30%. At December 31, 2022, the weighted average maturity on our interest rate swaps was 4 years.

We paid $45 million to terminate interest rate swaps with a notional value of $2.5 billion during the year ended December 31, 2023. The terminated swaps had original maturities ranging from 2025 to 2028. We paid $561 thousand to terminate interest rate swaps with a notional value of $1.0 billion during the year ended December 31, 2022. The terminated swaps had original maturity of 2024.

During the year ended December 31, 2023, we entered into three swaption contracts for a one-year forward starting swaps with a total notional of $1.5 billion with a 3.56% strike rate. The underlying swap terms will allow us to pay a fix rate of 3.56% and receive floating overnight SOFR rate. Additionally, during the year ended December 31, 2023, we terminated our existing $1.0 billion notional swaption contract in exchange for a one-year swap. We also entered into and terminated three new swaptions contracts with $2.3 billion notional during the year ended December 31, 2023. We had net realized gains of $11 million on these swaption terminations. During the year ended December 31, 2022, we purchased a swaption contract for a one-year forward starting swap of $1.0 billion in notional amount with a weighted average strike rate of 3.26%. We paid a $6 million premium for the purchase of this swaption contract.

During the year ended December 31, 2023, we entered into 6,000 short 5-year and 1,875 short 2-year U.S. Treasury futures contract with a notional of $600 million and $375 million, respectively, which we subsequently covered and had no outstanding U.S. Treasury futures contract at December 31, 2023. We had a net realized loss of $6 million on covering these short U.S. Treasury futures contract. We also entered into 400 call options on 2-year and 5-year U.S. Treasury futures and subsequently covered them during the year ended December 31, 2023 for a realized loss of $187 thousand.

Changes in our derivative positions were primarily a result of changes in our secured financing composition and changes in interest rates.

Net Unrealized Gains (Losses) on Financial Instruments at Fair Value

During the year ended December 31, 2023, changes in market value on our portfolio were modestly positive compared to the market value losses during the year ended December 31, 2022. During 2022, the Fed Funds Rate increases, headline inflation, the inversion of the yield curve, and widening of credit spreads resulted in significant increases in market volatility and unrealized losses on our investment portfolio. 2023, while still experiencing market volatility, has been relatively stable and market prices have remained slightly positive as compared to 2022. We recorded Net unrealized gains on financial instruments at fair value of $34 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to Net unrealized losses on financial instruments at fair value of $737 million for the year ended December 31, 2022.

Gains and Losses on Sales of Assets

We do not forecast sales of investments as we generally expect to invest for long term gains. However, from time to time, we may sell assets to create liquidity necessary to pursue new opportunities, to achieve targeted leverage ratios as well as for gains when prices indicate a sale is most beneficial to us, or is the most prudent course of action to maintain a targeted risk adjusted yield for our investors.

During the year ended December 31, 2023, we sold some of our Agency MBS investments as part of our portfolio optimization efforts and realized a loss of $31 million. During the year ended December 31, 2022, we sold some of our Agency IO and Non-Agency RMBS investments and realized a loss of $76 million.

Gain and Loss on Extinguishment of Debt

We recognized losses on extinguishment of debt of $2 million and $3 million, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, related to early termination of certain of our secured financing agreements.

When we acquire our outstanding securitized debt, we extinguish the outstanding debt and recognize a gain or loss based on the difference between the carrying value of the debt and the cost to acquire the debt which is reflected in the Consolidated Statements of Operations as a gain or loss on extinguishment of debt.

Securitized Debt Collateralized by Non-Agency RMBS

We did not acquire any securitized debt collateralized by Non-Agency RMBS during the year ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022.

Securitized Debt Collateralized by Loans Held for Investment

During the year ended December 31, 2023, we acquired securitized debt collateralized by Loans held for investment with an amortized cost balance of $551 million for $545 million. These transactions resulted in net gain on extinguishment of debt of $6 million. We did not acquire any securitized debt collateralized by loans held for investment during the year ended December 31, 2022.

Compensation, General and Administrative Expenses and Transaction Expenses

The table below shows our total compensation and benefit expense, general and administrative, or G&A expenses, and transaction expenses as compared to average total assets and average equity for the periods presented.

The Compensation and benefit costs were approximately $31 million and $49 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively. The decrease in Compensation and benefit costs were primarily driven by lower performance based compensation costs.

The general and administrative expenses were approximately $25 million and $23 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively. The G&A expenses are primarily comprised of legal, market data and research, auditing, consulting, information technology, and independent investment consulting expenses.

We incurred transaction expenses in relation to securitizations of $15 million and $16 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively.

Servicing and Asset Manager Fees

The servicing fees and asset manager expenses were $33 million and $36 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively. These servicing fees are primarily related to the servicing costs of the whole loans held in consolidated securitization vehicles and are paid from interest income earned by the VIEs. The servicing fees generally range from 2 to 50 basis points of unpaid principal balances of our consolidated VIEs.

Earnings available for distribution

Earnings available for distribution is a non-GAAP measure and is defined as GAAP net income excluding unrealized gains or losses on financial instruments carried at fair value with changes in fair value recorded in earnings, realized gains or losses on the sales of investments, gains or losses on the extinguishment of debt, changes in the provision for credit losses, other gains or losses on equity investments, and transaction expenses incurred. Transaction expenses are primarily comprised of costs only incurred at the time of execution of our securitizations and certain structured secured financing agreements and include costs such as underwriting fees, legal fees, diligence fees, bank fees and other similar transaction related expenses. These costs are all incurred prior to or at the execution of the transaction and do not recur. Recurring expenses, such as servicing fees, custodial fees, trustee fees and other similar ongoing fees are not excluded from earnings available for distribution. We believe that excluding these costs is useful to investors as it is generally consistent with our peer groups treatment of these costs in their non-GAAP measures presentation, mitigates period to period comparability issues tied to the timing of securitization and structured finance transactions, and is consistent with the accounting for the deferral of debt issue costs prior to the fair value election option made by us. In addition, we believe it is important for investors to review this metric which is consistent with how management internally evaluates the performance of the Company. Stock compensation expense charges incurred on awards to retirement eligible employees is reflected as an expense over a vesting period (generally 36 months) rather than reported as an immediate expense.

Earnings available for distribution is the Economic net interest income, as defined previously, reduced by compensation and benefits expenses (adjusted for awards to retirement eligible employees), general and administrative expenses, servicing and asset manager fees, income tax benefits or expenses incurred during the period, as well as the preferred dividend charges.

We view Earnings available for distribution as one measure of our investment portfolio's ability to generate income for distribution to common stockholders. Earnings available for distribution is one of the metrics, but not the exclusive metric, that our Board of Directors uses to determine the amount, if any, of dividends on our common stock. Other metrics that our Board of Directors may consider when determining the amount, if any, of dividends on our common stock include (among others) REIT taxable income, dividend yield, book value, cash generated from the portfolio, reinvestment opportunities and other cash needs. In addition, Earnings available for distribution is different than REIT taxable income and the determination of whether we have met the requirement to distribute at least 90% of our annual REIT taxable income (subject to certain adjustments) to our stockholders in order to maintain qualification as a REIT is not based on Earnings available for distribution. Therefore, Earnings available for distribution should not be considered as an indication of our REIT taxable income, a guaranty of our ability to pay dividends, or as a proxy for the amount of dividends we may pay. We believe Earnings available for distribution as described above helps us and investors evaluate our financial performance period over period without the impact of certain transactions. Therefore, Earnings available for distribution should not be viewed in isolation and is not a substitute for net income or net income per basic share computed in accordance with GAAP. In addition, our methodology for calculating Earnings available for distribution may differ from the methodologies employed by other REITs to calculate the same or similar supplemental performance measures, and accordingly, our Earnings available for distribution may not be comparable to the Earnings available for distribution reported by other REITs.

The following table provides GAAP measures of net income and net income per diluted share available to common stockholders for the periods presented and details with respect to reconciling the line items to Earnings available for distribution and related per average diluted common share amounts. Earnings available for distribution is presented on an adjusted dilutive shares basis.

(1) Included in net realized gains (losses) on derivatives in the Consolidated Statement of Operations

The table below summarizes the reconciliation from weighted-average diluted shares under GAAP to the weighted average adjusted diluted shares used for Earnings available for distribution for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021.

(1) Potentially dilutive shares related to restricted stock units and performance stock units excluded from the computation of weighted average GAAP diluted shares

because their effect would have been anti-dilutive given the GAAP net loss available to common shareholders for the year ended December 31, 2022.

The table below summarizes the reconciliation from weighted-average diluted shares under GAAP to the weighted-average adjusted diluted shares used for Earnings available for distribution for the periods reported below.

(1) Potentially dilutive shares related to restricted stock units and performance stock units excluded from the computation of weighted average GAAP diluted shares because their effect would have been anti-dilutive given the GAAP net loss available to common shareholders for the quarter ended September 30, 2023.

Our Earnings available for distribution for the year ended December 31, 2023 were $119 million, or $0.51 per average diluted common share, and decreased by $137 million, or $0.57 per average diluted common share, as compared to $256 million, or $1.08 per average diluted common share for the year ended December 31, 2022. The decrease in Earnings available for distribution was driven by an increase in interest expense on our secured financing agreements and securitized debt collateralized by loans due to higher Federal Funds rate during the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022.

Net Income (Loss) and Return on Total Stockholders' Equity

The table below shows our Net Income and Economic net interest income as a percentage of average stockholders' equity and Earnings available for distribution as a percentage of average common stockholders' equity. Return on average equity is defined as our GAAP net income (loss) as a percentage of average equity. Average equity is defined as the average of our beginning and ending stockholders' equity balance for the period reported. Economic net interest income and Earnings available for distribution are non-GAAP measures as defined in previous sections.

Return on average equity increased by 2,156 basis points for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. This increase is driven primarily by unrealized asset pricing gains during 2023, compared to unrealized losses during 2022. Economic net interest income as a percentage of average equity decreased by 372 basis points for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. Earnings available for distribution as a percentage of average common equity decreased by 477 basis points for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2022, primarily driven by increase in interest expense driven by higher Fed Funds Rate.