A severe shortage of real estate appraisers has North Dakota officials making a request to waive appraisal reports, at least temporarily, on some residential loans. Banking regulators see the move as necessary.
In some parts of the state, appraisal are reportedly taking up to three months. As a result, some of the transactions have fallen through — hurting timely credit availability for prospective borrowers and slowing economic development.
A joint request was made by North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Department of Financial Institutions Commissioner Lise Kruse and the North Dakota Bankers Association to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council’s Appraisal Subcommittee.
A temporary waiver of appraisal requirements that are currently required by North Dakota law is being sought by the state for federally related real estate mortgage loans issued by banks or credit unions.
North Dakota law requires independent evaluations regardless of the transaction amount. Federal requirements allow appraisals to be waived on single-family loans up to $250,000.
The state is asking for a temporary waiver on residential loans up to $500,000.
John Ryna, president and chief executive officer of the CSBS, noted in a written statement, “The challenges experienced by lenders obtaining timely appraisals is impacting local communities and economic development nationwide. The fact that North Dakota’s governor, top financial regulator and banking community are raising it to the federal level sends an extremely important message that there is a problem in the marketplace.”
