Moody's: Health Mixed for Euro Retail CMBS

The health of the retail sector of Europe's commercial mortgage-backed securities market is mixed, according to a recent "red-yellow-green" report by Moody's Investors Service.The report, which classifies the retail markets using the three traffic-light colors, indicates that, "of the selected 12 European markets in seven different countries, five markets are in the red zone, four are in the yellow zone and three are in the green zone." In the Moody's report, a "red" classification indicates that a market is "currently under stress from supply-and-demand imbalances," a "yellow" classification indicates that a market "warrants careful monitoring," and a "green" classification indicates that a market is "not under immediate strain." Overall, the report shows that "European retail market scores underwent a slight downward shift in 2004 compared with year-end 2003," Moody's said.