Mortgage-backed securities are locked in the throes of their sharpest selloff in years as investors continue to price in the expected loss of support from the Federal Reserve later in 2013, the Wall Street Journal reports.

MBS yields, which govern how much banks charge on mortgage loans, soared to their highest level since August 2011 as investors and dealers struggled to find buyers for the debt that is among the most vulnerable among fixed-income assets if the Fed backs off its quantitative easing bond-buying program.