IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Tight standards for mortgage lending are apparently holding back single-family home sales.
Eighty three percent of homebuilders nationwide reported losing sales within the last six months because potential buyers couldn’t qualify for a housing loan, according to a recent study by the National Association of Homebuilders in Washington, D.C.
The average share of sales lost was 9.7 percent, or approximately 18,700 sales. More than half the single-family homebuilders questioned described lending standards as “tight” or “very tight,” while only 11 percent called the standards for obtaining a mortgage “somewhat easy.”
No builder surveyed described the lending standards as “very easy,” the report stated.
“Tight credit conditions are hindering a full, healthy housing recovery,” said David Crowe, the association’s chief economist, in a statement. “These persistently tight mortgage credit standards continue to limit … creditworthy borrowers, particularly young families and first-time homebuyers, from entering the housing market.”
