Moody's Investors Service, which awarded a sterling Triple-A to Invitation Homes' inaugural REO-to-rental is reporting that the performance is within expectations.
Here are the three most notable developments in Invitation Homes-SFR1 since being issued last November.
1. The vacancy rate rose to 7.9% in February 2014 as a result of several leases in the portfolio expiring since the November deal close.
2. The number of lease expirations in the portfolio spiked right after the securitization but will decline over time.
3. This vacancy rate is in line with the forecasted lease expiration schedule and meets expectations for the performance of the underlying collateral.
The $479.1 million of mortgage-backed securities is blocked into four classes of certificates backed by one floating rate loan secured by mortgages on 3,207 single-family rental properties.
Blackstone Group (BX) spent the past two years building its empire of single-family rental homes via subsidiary Invitation Homes, spending $7.5 billion to acquire 40,000 houses. Now, the private-equity firm is planning to sell bonds backed by lease payments, which is a step in a new direction for the housing industry.
Moody's says it has a strong faith in the abilities of the day-to-day property manager, THR Property Management.
The master servicer is Midland Loan Services, a division of PNC Bank (PNC). The special servicer is Situs Holdings.