Builders urge Congress to open up credit

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has asked members to contact Congress in support of legislation to open up lines of credit for new-housing production.

The association sent an alert to members, encouraging them to ask their representatives to co-sponsor the Home Construction Lending Regulatory Improvement Act.

"As we move into the spring home-buying season, builders and developers across the country continue to suffer from a severe lack of credit for viable home-building projects, which has major implications for the economy as a whole,” said NAHB chairman Bob Nielsen. “With scores of housing markets nationwide starting to show signs of improvement, this legislation recognizes that there is an urgent need to expand the flow of credit to builders in these communities to meet demand and keep the expansion moving ahead.”

According to the NAHB, the bill -- sponsored by by Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif.) and Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) -- targets specific regulatory obstacles to credit availability for the home-building industry. For instance, it seeks to cease implementing a 100% capital bank lending limit for Acquisition, Development and Construction (AD&C) loans as a “hard” limit, and utilize the 100% of capital guideline as it was intended.