Fitch Completes Re-Rating of '06 Subprime MBS

Fitch Ratings has completed the "re-rating" of its rated universe of 2006 vintage U.S. subprime residential mortgage-backed security transactions, consisting of 228 deals with an outstanding balance of $173 billion.Fitch's most severe rating actions affected a subsector of the subprime market, RMBS exclusively backed by closed-end second-lien loans, consisting of 274 rated classes with a par balance of $6.6 billion. Fitch downgraded 32 of 51 triple-A rated closed-end second-lien classes from this cohort. For first- and second-lien transactions combined, Fitch said it downgraded 1,003 classes with a par balance of $18.4 billion and affirmed 2,228 classes with a par balance of $155.1 billion. Fitch is now reviewing subprime RMBS ratings from the first quarter of 2007. Fitch said it initiated the review of subprime RMBS ratings in July due to the "unprecedented reversal in home prices and the resulting impact on high-risk mortgage products." The rating agency can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.