Fitch Updates Rating Criteria for Military Housing

Fitch Ratings has updated its sector-specific report for rating military housing bonds. The updated report replaces the existing criteria published on Sept. 17, 2013. No changes to the ratings of existing transactions are anticipated as a result of the application of the updated rating criteria.

Fitch has identified five key rating drivers that affect the credit quality of military housing credits:

--Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) and Occupancy: Financial health of the military housing project is tied to BAH rates and occupancy levels, which directly affect debt service coverage levels;

--Existing Unit Cash Flow: Dedication of revenue from existing housing units during the initial development phase (IDP)is necessary to mitigate construction risk;

--Meeting IDP Schedule: Meeting the project construction schedule is key to ensuring that new and/or rehabbed units are on line generating revenue to pay debt service;

--BRAC: Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC)is a risk that is ever present;

--Base Essentiality: An installation's importance to the military is directly linked to the base's level of essentiality, its history and its mission relative to the current security environment of the U.S.

The updated criteria report outlines how Fitch evaluates these risk factors in its rating analysis of military housing bonds.

The report is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'.

Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'.

Applicable Criteria and Related Research: Military Housing Rating Criteria

http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=774288

ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTP://FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEBSITE 'WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM'. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE 'CODE OF CONDUCT' SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE.