The WSJ reports (in an article on Saturday 10/18 by Joe Light), that Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and mortgage lenders are in discussions to ease lending standards; including loans with 3% down to homeowners and allowing people with weak credit access to home loans.
Apparently, an agreement is in sight to enact these measures.
Even if none of this trickles down to investors (which I doubt), this is great news. As more people qualify for loans, greater demand for homes is likely to help push values up in many markets. It will also be easier to sell investment homes due to the larger pool of potential homeowner buyers.
I suspect that, as usual, the more lax lending standards will reach investors in one form or another; making investors able to increase their portfolio at the current incredibly low rates (from a historical perspective). We are already seeing a local lender in Oklahoma City lending to foreigners at good investor rates (albeit at 50% down), as well as to investor purchases for investors owning between 10-15 financed properties (also with 50% down. In fact the loan is identical to the foreign investors’ loan). This lender has already agreed to lend in Atlanta and may soon expand to other states as well.
This is positive news for investors, no matter how you slice it.