Fed Survey Shows Some Relief on Underwriting Standards

Most banks did not tighten lending standards on prime or nontraditional single-family mortgages during the past three months and there appears to have been some relief on HELOC standards, according a new survey of senior loan officers conducted by the Federal Reserve. Nearly 80% of banks surveyed said their lending standards were unchanged from January. On prime mortgages, only 11% said they tightened credit with the balance saying they eased. "Large bank respondents eased standards on balance, for both prime mortgages and home equity lending lines of credit," the Fed said. However, loan officers told the central bank that demand for residential mortgage loans weakened over the past three months. As for commercial real estate lending, some banks continued to tighten underwriting, but demand for CRE is now showing signs of stabilizing, the survey found. For the first time since the financial crisis began, less than 10% of the respondent banks reported weaker demand for CRE loans, the Fed said. Over 45% of banks reported increased use of loan extensions on existing CRE loans over the past six months.