Macquarie has launched a A$1 billion fund to invest in residential mortgage-backed securities in Australia.

The Debt Market Opportunity Fund buys investment-grade bundled mortgages Down Under. Macquarie plans to increase the size of the fund to as much as A$10 billion over the next few years.

“There are many, many differences between the Australian sectors and the U.S. mortgage markets,” Dean Stewart, divisional director of Macquarie Funds Management, told The Australian. “There are different regulatory regimes and recourse rules to the lenders in the U.S.”

He added that the firm has received interest from “some very large investors” in the new fund.