Banks tightened lending standards for commercial real estate loans during the third quarter, while standards for most other types of loans remained unchanged, according to the Federal Reserve’s latest senior loan officer survey.
In particular, the Fed said that “significant net fractions” of banks responding to the survey reported tightening standards on construction and land development loans, as well as loans secured by multifamily properties.
Slightly more than 14 percent of all respondents said that credit standards for commercial real estate loans, generally, had tightened somewhat, while the rest reported that standards had remained basically unchanged, but about 30 percent of all respondents said that standards for construction and land development loans had tightened at least somewhat.
Where commercial and industrial loans were concerned, the lion’s share of respondents, about 95 percent, said that standards had remained largely unchanged. A moderate net fraction of banks, about 26 percent, said that demand had strengthened somewhat for commercial real estate loans while demand remained basically unchanged for C&I loans.
Meanwhile, a bit more than 11 percent of respondents reported that standards for loans eligible for government sponsored entities had eased somewhat during the third quarter, though the rest reported that standards for those loans had not changed. Another 12.5 percent of banks said they were somewhat more willing to make consumer installment loans than they were in the prior quarter, and 92 percent of banks said their standards for approving credit cards from individuals or households had remained largely unchanged.
The majority of respondents (77 percent) said that standards for auto loans were basically unchanged, but 9.8 percent said standards had eased somewhat and 11.5 percent said standards had tightened somewhat. Moderate net fractions of banks (17 percent and 20 percent, respectively) said that demand for credit cards and auto loans was moderately stronger than in the previous quarter.
