Over the past three months U.S. banks have not relaxed their credit standards on new single-family and commercial real estate loans, according to a new survey of senior loan officers released by the Federal Reserve.
"Standards for commercial and residential real estate loans changed little,” the Fed said in its report, released Monday afternoon.
In terms of prime home loans, only two of the 48 respondent banks said they had tightened their underwriting standards "somewhat," with two others saying they had "eased somewhat" since the July survey.
The remaining 44 banks said their standards are "basically unchanged."
However, demand for prime loans was "moderately stronger," according to loan officers at 15 of the banks, while demand was "moderately weaker" at eight banks.
U.S. banks noted little change in their CRE loan standards. But a "large fraction" of foreign banks reported tightening their CRE standards. This represents a "significant shift from the net easing reported by these [foreign] institutions in the prior two surveys," the Fed said.
