Missed this yesterday from Moody’s. First quarter RMBS arrears jump:
Sydney, June 07, 2012 — Moody’s Investors Service has announced the publication of a new quarterly report that will track the performance of the Australian RMBS market. The new report was published today with performance data up to first quarter 2012, and covers the prime and non-conforming sectors.
…The current report shows that delinquencies rose in the first quarter of 2012 despite the easing of monetary policy which occurred in late 2011.
Prime deals (excluding low doc) 30-plus arrears marginally increased to 1.58% in March 2012 from 1.57% in December 2011. However, low doc and non-conforming deals saw a larger increase. For example, low doc’s 30-plus increased to 5.03% from 4.58% during the same period, and non-conforming increased to 12.06% from 10.63%.
Low doc and non-conforming deals typically have lower credit quality and hence, with an economic slowdown and uncertainty, these deals are more likely to suffer from deteriorating performance.
“Economic slowdown”? In the March quarter?
