US 'warehouse' mortgage lending competition heats up

``The number of finance companies providing capital for U.S. home loans has surged since late 2010, providing competition for large retail banks, while the overall market is shrinking, bankers said on Tuesday... "We are seeing something that does concern me ... some of the credit guidelines are becoming less stringent," she said. "We're really just beginning to get through the meltdown. It's like we got Alzheimer's... The increased competition illustrates the flood of money that investors want to put to work in the residential mortgage sector, where even tightly underwritten loans are seen providing good returns in the ultra-low interest rate environment.''