According to a presale report from Moody’s Investors Service, the pool has a weighted average loan-to-value ratio of 80.4% and a debt service coverage ratio of 1.56X. Similarly, Fitch Ratings says in its presale report that the 78.2% LTV and 1.37X DSCR it assigns to the pool compares favorably to the average 110.7% LVT and 1.05X ratio across Fitch-rated conduit transactions from 2007 and 2008.

“That reflects a return by loan originators to prudent underwriting,” says Sargent. Both Moody’s and Fitch have assigned their top ratings of AAA to $608.9 million of the loans. Among other strengths, the loans in the pool are geographically diverse and tend to be backed by properties with strong tenancies.

However, the agencies do note risks along with the positives. Moody’s says about 71% of the pool balance is exposed to a single property type: in this case, anchored retail, although anchored retail is seen by the agency as a “less risky” asset class. “Property type concentrations increase asset correlations which affect pool default and loss distributions,” says Moody’s in its presale report.

Fitch also sees the heavy retail concentration as a liability, but for a different reason: the agency maintains a “negative” outlook for the sector. A JPMorgan spokesman says the company has no comment on the agencies’ reports.

The conduit sale, which reportedly is expected to price in mid-June, comes as CMBS has been outperforming other forms of debt when it comes to yields. Citing Barclays data, Bloomberg reports that top-rated CMBS yielded about 309 basis points more than Treasuries as of June 4.