A West Virginia state agency sold $50 million in bonds to finance affordable mortgage loans.
The bonds, issued by the West Virginia Housing Development Fund, mature between 2024 and 2053, yielding between 3.2% and 4.7%. They received a rating of Aaa from Moody’s Investors Service and AAA from S&P Global Ratings.
The rating reflects “robust financial performance, strong performance and composition of the underlying mortgage loan portfolio, and the general obligation pledge of the West Virginia Housing Development Fund,” according to Moody’s.
The issuance comes as West Virginians continue to face elevated housing insecurity exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The loans financed by the bond issuance will primarily support single-family housing for first-time home buyers. The state still has almost 30,000 less affordable and available rental homes than it needs to house its low-income residents, according to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, a nonprofit that advocates for affordable housing.
The West Virginia Housing Development Fund is the only state housing finance agency to consistently receive an AAA rating on its general obligation bonds, according to the fund’s website. It was established in 1969 to provide housing for low- and moderate-income residents of West Virginia. Since then, it has issued more than $4.5 billion in bonds to finance more than 165,000 units of affordable housing.
The bonds issued this week are general obligations of the fund, backed by its full faith and credit.
Raymond James & Associates, Inc served as lead underwriter on the issuance.