SAN FRANCISCO (Standard&Poor's) March 7, 2012--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services lowered its issuer credit rating (ICR) to 'A' from 'A+' on the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA). The rating action affects the ratings on all debt supported by the authority's general obligation pledge. In addition, we revised the outlook on all ratings to stable from negative. "The rating action reflects our view of CHFA's low equity ratios, higher-than-average delinquency and foreclosure rates among housing finance agencies, and financial challenges resulting from significant use of variable-rate debt and reliance upon swap and liquidity counterparties," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Lawrence Witte. The stable outlook reflects our opinion of CHFA's equity and profitability ratios relative to those of
