Today, in New York, investors will be pitched the first-ever REO-to-rental securitization deal. The $500 million deal bundles foreclosed single-family homes, “real-estate-owned” by Blackstone Group, into securities that pass-through rental payments to investors.
The new securitization of rental properties comes at a time when home prices have rebounded dramatically across the country. But rather than confirming a bull market in housing, the “trade,” as Reuters calls the transaction, likely heralds a coming double-dip.
The upward trajectory of housing prices, fueled by private equity companies and hedge funds’ cash purchases, now faces institutional liquidity demands – and their potential exit.
Here’s what the Blackstone deal is all about, why its structure is problematic, how the ratings agencies will view it, and what it portends for the future.
