Lender and loan servicer Pepper Group has sold a A$400 million portfolio of mortgages in a "whole loan transaction" and has foreshadowed more such sales this year.Pepper said it was making the sale as an alternative to issuing residential mortgage-backed securities. It said it sold portfolios in whole loan transactions "from time to time."The last time Pepper did a whole loan sale was in January last year.The transaction involves the transfer of economic ownership of the relevant loan portfolio from Pepper to the unnamed buyer.Pepper co-chief executive Patrick Tuttle said in a statement that whole loans sales were an important source of funding diversification for the company.The RMBS market has been affected by global debt market volatility over the past few months. There have only been three Australian RMBS issues so far this year and the cost of issuance has risen sharply.Earlier this month Commonwealth Bank raised $1.6 billion through an RMBS issue, paying 140 basis points over the one-month bank bill swap rate on the senior notes. CBA's previous RMBS issue was in September last year, when it raised $2 billion and paid 90 bps over one-month BBSW on the senior notes. Liberty Financial paid 165 bps over one-month BBSW on the A1b notes of its latest issue, also earlier this month.Pepper has not abandoned the RMBS market. Tuttle said an investor roadshow was currently underway to market its next issue, PRS16.