Access to mortgage credit is at its
highest level in at least three years, and credit standards are expected
to loosen even more this year, according to a newly-released index by
the Mortgage Bankers Association.
...“There will be a tendency for some liberalization over the course of
the year,” Davis told The Wall Street Journal. After all, lending
experts note that the number of mortgage refinancing applications has
drastically fallen the past year, and more banks likely will be looking
to the purchase market to make up for that lost share in income.
Indeed, nearly 17 percent of large banks have recently eased credit
standards for prime purchase mortgages, while 5.6 percent have tightened
their standards and the remainder have left standards the same,
according to the Federal Reserve’s recent senior loan officer survey.
Source: “Mortgage Credit Most Available in at Least Three Years, Gauge Says,” The Wall Street Journal (April 9, 2014)