Following a similar warning yesterday on more than $300 billion in subprime mortgage-backed securities, Moody’s Investors Service warned today that it might downgrade more than $300 billion in Alt-A RMBS.
Yesterday, the New York-based firm said it placed 5,598 subprime RMBS tranches for $319 billion on review for a possible downgrade. Rising delinquency, additional home-price declines and increasing unemployment were cited.
Today, Moody’s announced that it placed another 10,330 tranches of Alt-A RMBS on review for possible downgrade. The affected securities had an original balance of $572.7 billion, while the current outstanding aggregate balance is $330.1 billion.
The ratings agency noted that the 2005 Alt-A vintage has seen serious delinquency rise from 15.0 percent in March 2009 to 18.9 percent. Delinquency rose to 32.6 percent from 26.6 percent on the 2006 vintage and to 32.5 percent from 25.5 percent on 2007 pools.
Cumulative losses realized on the pools have more than doubled on all three vintages. On average, cumulative losses of 14 percent are projected for 2005 issuances, while the figure is 29 percent for 2006 securitizations and more than one-third for 2007 securitizations.
Moody’s reiterated that unemployment and declining home prices should peak in the second-half 2010 and be followed by a mild recovery.
