Moody's asserts CMBS Aaa rating view, isolating S&P

Moody's Investors Service reasserted on Friday that top U.S. commercial mortgage-backed securities would likely retain the company's best ratings even as the real estate market weakens further... The assessment by Moody's follows a similar view by Fitch Ratings and Realpoint earlier this week, and further isolates rival credit rater Standard & Poor's that said it may get more conservative and downgrade a vast amount of CMBS.

Varying assessments by the three major credit rating companies illustrate the difficulty in predicting losses in the $700 billion market that provided more than half the financing for office, retail, apartment and hotel buildings through the real estate boom. While most investors agree conditions for real estate are dire, many have been buying top-rated CMBS on belief that other bonds will sustain all expected losses...

Reuters: Moody's asserts CMBS Aaa rating view, isolating S&P