Subprime Lending

Alt-A Issuance Drops Dramatically in Third Quarter: Report 

Following a second quarter in which issuance of Alt-A mortgages reached a record high, it decreased sharply in third-quarter 2007, according to a report released Wednesday by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. The dramatic drop, to $39.3 billion in issuance from the previous quarter’s all-time high of $109.5 billion, was the result of what S&P called “unprecedented credit and liquidity disruptions…that emerged in the U.S. residential mortgage market over the summer in response to the rapidly deteriorating housing sector.”