Fitch; Manufactured Housing Causing Losses

I don't ordinarily post about individual credit rating actions by Fitch or Moodys because there are so many of them. But this one caught my eye as it may be relevant to readers interested in the manufactured home sector.

"March 18, 2005: Fitch Ratings has taken rating actions on the following IndyMac Manufactured Housing (MH) contract pass-through certificates:Series 1997, 1998, 1998-2 downgraded..approximately $147.8 million of outstanding certificates, are taken due to continued poor performance of the underlying collateral, as well as diminishing credit enhancement..the cumulative loss percentages are 22.63%, 22.10%, and 20.01%, respectively."

All three certificates suffered this fate ; "overcollateralization has been fully depleted, and the high level of losses incurred has resulted in the..balance ..being written down to zero." These loans were backed by liens on the property the homes were on and presumably many will head into foreclosure.