Most CMBS collateral from 2001 rated by Fitch Ratings has withstood both a turn-of-the-decade recession and a recent global credit crisis.
"Performance on 2001 CMBS has yielded a welcome lack of surprises for investors in a broader market full of them," said Huxley Somerville, group managing director at Fitch.
According to Fitch, 92.5% of CMBS collateral from 2001 has either been liquidated or repaid in full through 3Q11. In that period, no investment grade class has taken a principal loss.
It is the vintage's moderate leverage that has made these loans easier to refinance, Huxley said, which should be an important consideration in the current environment with rising leverage and declining underwriting on new deals.
The disciplined underwriting also gave 2001 transactions strong structural features and the credit enhancement levels helped lessen the dual recessionary stresses.
