Resimac pays a high price for RMBS
Non-bank lender Resimac has paid a higher price for funding with its latest issue of residential mortgage backed securities than it did when it issued previously last November.On Friday, Resimac priced its $400 million RMBS issue, Premier Series 2011-1, paying 125 basis points over the one-month bank bill swap rate for the $340 million class A tranche. In November, it paid 105 basis points over swap for a $210 million class A1 tranche of Premier Series 2010-2.It paid 175 points over swap for the $42 million class AB tranche in the latest issue.Several factors may account for the widening of spreads. The market has had a glut of issuance in recent months, including Commonwealth Bank's $3 billion Medallion Trust Series 2011-1 and Citibank's $760 million SAMT 2011-1, both issued in April.Another factor was the make-up of the Resimac portfolio, which included 10 per cent low-doc mortgages. There has not been much demand for low-doc issuance since the financial crisis.Also, the weighted average life of the loans in the latest issue is longer. The weighted average life of the loans in the class A tranche of Premier Series 2011-1 is 2.9 years, compared with an average of 1.5 years for the class A1 tranche of Premier Series 2010-1.Resimac's director of securitisation, Mary Ploughman, said: "It is not a very deep market and the funding task is still a difficult one."The Australian Office of Financial Management bought $170 million of the class A notes and $22 million of the class AB notes.