S&P: How The U.S. Sovereign Downgrade Affects Municipal Housing

How The U.S. Sovereign Downgrade Affects Municipal Housing (00:03:34 min)

After downgrading the U.S. to ‘AA+’ from ‘AAA’ on Aug. 5, 2011, Standard & Poor's lowered its ratings on many U.S. companies and government-sponsored entities with financial ties to the sovereign. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Senior Director Valerie White discusses the implications of the downgrade for the municipal housing sector. Topics include our downgrades on public finance housing issues, including those backed by guarantees or enhancements from Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, as well as on single asset or single pool asset mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration. What's more, some housing parity bond programs have been placed on CreditWatch with negative implications, and White explains how we will resolve each on a case-by-case basis.