Realtors blame weak home sales on tight lending standards

                                                            

The decline in sales of existing homes in the U.S. in April was much steeper than what industry experts expected. Existing-home sales last month were 13% below April 2010 and down 0.8% from March, the National Association of Realtors said. Much of the problem is that lenders are applying unnecessarily harsh standards to loan approvals, the group said. Many sales are falling through because of low appraisals, it said. Full story here