Tighter lending conditions unlikely to loosen

While many families are looking to take advantage of low interest rates and home prices for their relocation into a new home, getting approved for a mortgage has been difficult. A new survey by the Federal Reserve says that those tight lending conditions are likely to continue.

According to the Fed's poll of senior loan officers, just 3.7 percent of lenders said that they had loosened their credit standards for residential mortgages over the last three months, while 83 percent said that the requirements had stayed the same.

Looking forward, 15 percent of banks said they expected the rules to loosen sometime next year, while 18.9 percent said they expected lending requirements in 2012 to return to normal levels. However, 34 percent said they didn't expect the tighter standards to weaken at all in the near future.

However, even if moving families can't qualify for the absolute lowest interest rates, they may still be getting a good deal. A report earlier this year by Zillow found that those with credit score of 620 or higher were able to get interest rates of 4.73 percent, which is still lower than where rates were 12 months ago.

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