New mortgage rules restrict credit availability: ABA survey.

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MORE THAN 80 PERCENT OF BANKS expect new mortgage regulations to reduce mortgage credit availability, according to the ABA's 21st annual Real Estate Lending Survey. The survey results revealed that more than one-third of respondents will only make qualified mortgage loans, while another one-third will also make nonqualified mortgage loans but only to targeted markets or products.

"The new mortgage rules are a serious challenge, especially in the near term, for mortgage lending," says Robert Davis, ABA executive vice president. "The problem will last at least as long as bankers calibrate their compliance systems, and perhaps much longer."

Despite these setbacks, bankers can boast some positive results. The 208 respondents, 76 percent with assets less than $1 billion, reported the highest percentage of single-family mortgage loans since the mortgage crisis began.

Foreclosure rates at surveyed banks dropped from 0.98 percent in 2012 to 0.73 percent in 2013, while the average delinquency...