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ETF | Vanguard Mortgage-Backed Securities Index Fund
Vanguard Mortgage-Backed Securities ETF
Investment Objective
The Fund seeks to track the performance of a market-weighted mortgage-backed securities index.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold ETF Shares of the Fund.
Shareholder Fees (Fees paid directly from your investment)
Shareholder Fees
ETF
Vanguard Mortgage-Backed Securities Index Fund
ETF Shares
USD ($)
[1]
Transaction Fee on Purchases and Sales none
Transaction Fee on Reinvested Dividends none
Transaction Fee on Conversion to ETF Shares none
[1] None through Vanguard (Broker fees vary)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
ETF
Vanguard Mortgage-Backed Securities Index Fund
ETF Shares
Management Fees 0.03%
12b-1 Distribution Fee none
Other Expenses 0.02%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 0.05%
Example
The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund's ETF Shares with the cost of investing in other funds. It illustrates the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over various periods if you were to invest $10,000 in the Fund's shares. This example assumes that the shares provide a return of 5% each year and that total annual fund operating expenses remain as stated in the preceding table. You would incur these hypothetical expenses whether or not you were to sell your shares at the end of the given period. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Expense Example
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
ETF | Vanguard Mortgage-Backed Securities Index Fund | ETF Shares | USD ($) 5 16 28 64
This example does not include the brokerage commissions that you may pay to buy and sell ETF Shares of the Fund.
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in more taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the previous expense example, reduce the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 190% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund employs an indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. MBS Float Adjusted Index. This Index covers U.S. agency mortgage-backed pass-through securities issued by the Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA), the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC). To be included in the Index, pool aggregates must have at least $250 million currently outstanding and a weighted average maturity of at least 1 year.

The Fund invests by sampling the Index, meaning that it holds a range of securities that, in the aggregate, approximates the full Index in terms of key risk factors and other characteristics. All of the Fund's investments will be selected through the sampling process, and under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund's assets will be invested in bonds included in the Index. The Fund maintains a dollar- weighted average maturity consistent with that of the Index. As of August 31, 2019, the dollar-weighted average maturity of the Index was 3.8 years.
Principal Risks
An investment in the Fund could lose money over short or long periods of time. You should expect the Fund's share price and total return to fluctuate within a wide range. The Fund is subject to the following risks, which could affect the Fund's performance:

• Prepayment risk, which is the chance that during periods of falling interest rates, homeowners will refinance their mortgages before their maturity dates, resulting in prepayment of mortgage-backed securities held by the Fund. The Fund would then lose any price appreciation above the mortgage's principal and would be forced to reinvest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates, resulting in a decline in the Fund's income. Such prepayments and subsequent reinvestments would also increase the Fund's portfolio turnover rate. Prepayment risk is high for the Fund.

• Extension risk, which is the chance that during periods of rising interest rates, homeowners will repay their mortgages at slower rates. This will lengthen the duration or average life of mortgage-backed securities held by the Fund and delay the Fund's ability to reinvest proceeds at higher interest rates. Extension risk is high for the Fund.

• Interest rate risk, which is the chance that bond prices will decline because of rising interest rates. In addition, when interest rates decline, mortgage-backed securities' prices typically do not rise as much as the prices of comparable bonds. This is because the market tends to discount mortgage-backed securities' prices for prepayment risk when interest rates decline. Interest rate risk should be moderate for the Fund.

• Income risk, which is the chance that the Fund's income will decline because of falling interest rates. Income risk is generally moderate for intermediate-term bond funds, so investors should expect the Fund's monthly income to fluctuate accordingly.

• Credit risk, which is the chance that the issuer of a mortgage-backed security will fail to pay interest or principal in a timely manner or that negative perceptions of the issuer's ability to make such payments will cause the price of that bond to decline.

Credit risk should be very low for the Fund because it invests in securities issued by U.S. government agencies and instrumentalities, including many securities backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.

• Index sampling risk, which is the chance that the securities selected for the Fund, in the aggregate, will not provide investment performance matching that of the Fund's target index. Index sampling risk for the Fund is expected to be low.

• Liquidity risk, which is the chance that the Fund may not be able to sell a security in a timely manner at a desired price.

Because ETF Shares are traded on an exchange, they are subject to additional risks:

• The Fund's ETF Shares are listed for trading on Nasdaq and are bought and sold on the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of an ETF Share typically will approximate its net asset value (NAV), there may be times when the market price and the NAV differ significantly. Thus, you may pay more or less than NAV when you buy ETF Shares on the secondary market, and you may receive more or less than NAV when you sell those shares.

• Although the Fund's ETF Shares are listed for trading on Nasdaq, it is possible that an active trading market may not be maintained.

• Trading of the Fund's ETF Shares may be halted by the activation of individual or marketwide trading halts (which halt trading for a specific period of time when the price of a particular security or overall market prices decline by a specified percentage). Trading of the Fund's ETF Shares may also be halted if (1) the shares are delisted from Nasdaq without first being listed on another exchange or (2) Nasdaq officials determine that such action is appropriate in the interest of a fair and orderly market or for the protection of investors.

An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
Annual Total Returns
The following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows how the performance of the Fund's ETF Shares (based on NAV) has varied from one calendar year to another over the periods shown. The table shows how the average annual total returns of the ETF Shares compare with those of the Fund's target index, which has investment characteristics similar to those of the Fund. Keep in mind that the Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) does not indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available on our website at vanguard.com/performance or by calling Vanguard toll-free at 800-662-7447.
Annual Total Returns — Vanguard Mortgage-Backed Securities Index Fund ETF Shares
Bar Chart
[1] The year-to-date return as of the most recent calendar quarter, which ended on September 30, 2019, was 5.43%.
During the periods shown in the bar chart, the highest return for a calendar quarter was 2.73% (quarter ended June 30, 2010), and the lowest return for a quarter was –2.00% (quarter ended December 31, 2016).
Average Annual Total Returns for Periods Ended December 31, 2018
Average Annual Total Returns - ETF - Vanguard Mortgage-Backed Securities Index Fund
1 Year
5 Years
Since Inception
Inception Date
ETF Shares | Based on NAV 0.87% 2.37% 2.57% Nov. 19, 2009
ETF Shares | Based on NAV Return After Taxes on Distributions (0.25%) 1.42% 1.68% Nov. 19, 2009
ETF Shares | Based on NAV Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares 0.50% 1.39% 1.61% Nov. 19, 2009
ETF Shares | Based on Market Price 0.91% 2.37% 2.57% Nov. 19, 2009
Bloomberg Barclays U.S. MBS Float Adjusted Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes) 0.99% 2.40% 2.62% Nov. 19, 2009
Actual after-tax returns depend on your tax situation and may differ from those shown in the preceding table. When after-tax returns are calculated, it is assumed that the shareholder was in the highest individual federal marginal income tax bracket at the time of each distribution of income or capital gains or upon redemption. State and local income taxes are not reflected in the calculations. Please note that after-tax returns are not relevant for a shareholder who holds fund shares in a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account or a 401(k) plan. Also, figures captioned Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares may be higher than other figures for the same period if a capital loss occurs upon redemption and results in an assumed tax deduction for the shareholder.