Realtors’ complaint: “tight credit” hurting housing market

Sales of existing homes fell in August, but the number of unsold homes on the market also dropped sharply from the previous month’s record high. The National Association of Realtors said today that sales fell 2.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.91 million units, from an upwardly revised pace of 5.02 million in July. ... There were 4.3 million unsold homes on the market, a 7 percent drop from the record set in July. It was the steepest drop in inventory since December 2006. At the current sales pace, it would take 10.4 months to sell all the properties.

NAR President Richard F. Gaylord, a broker with RE/MAX Real Estate Specialists in Long Beach, Calif., said the pendulum in the mortgage market has swung too far. “The difficulty in obtaining a mortgage increased over past couple months, making it more challenging for creditworthy borrowers to find financing,” he said. “Our hope is that overly tight lending criteria can be loosened with reasonable standards and credit so that sales activity can catch up with demand. Interest rates have already declined, but there is a serious question as to whether a cash infusion by the U.S. Treasury into Wall Street would help consumers by improving mortgage funding. “We urge Congress to restore access to sound mortgage credit so people have the ability to make and keep a long-term investment in the American dream of homeownership. Congress needs to take care of Main Street and not just bail out Wall Street.”