WASHINGTON – Sept. 19, 2014 – Large lenders expect underwriting standards to ease over the next three months, because they also expect a drop in demand from single-family purchase mortgages, according to Fannie Mae’s third-quarter Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey.
The share of lenders who expect purchase mortgage demand to go up over the next three months decreased significantly – between 26 to 33 percentage points depending on loan type. Among those surveyed, larger lenders seem more likely than smaller lenders to ease their credit standards this year, perhaps in an effort to boost purchase mortgage activity before the year comes to a close.
“Historically, as lenders face a more competitive market for loan volume, it’s not uncommon to see some loosening in the lending standards; however, this time, the easing will likely be around the edges,” says Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae.
- Mortgage lender sentiment survey highlights
- Compared to general consumers, senior mortgage executives continue to be more optimistic about the overall economy and more pessimistic about consumers’ ability to get a mortgage today.
- The share of lenders that expect increased demand for the next three months declined significantly from Q2 to Q3.
- Most lenders reported no major changes in their credit standards for the prior three months, and they general don’t expect major changes for the next three months. However, the larger lenders were more likely to say their credit standards eased over the prior three months, and that they expect their standards to ease during the next three months.
- Most lenders expect to keep their Mortgage Servicing Rights (MSR) strategies for the next three months.
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