Earthquake Does Little Damage to Japan’s CMBS

The earthquake that recently struck the northern Kyushu region of Japan has had only a limited direct impact on Japanese commercial mortgage-backed security transactions and real estate investment trusts, Moody's Investors Service has reported."Damage to the underlying real estate appears to have been limited to minor items such as caved-in ceiling modules or cracked internal walls," the rating agency said. "Moody's will continue to monitor carefully for impact from the quake's potential aftershocks." The rating agency monitors 18 CMBS transactions and REITs in Kyushu's Fukuoka and Saga Prefectures. Moody's can be found on the Web at http://www.moody's.com.