One of the biggest problems often cited by housing experts when it comes to the lack of sales in the past several months is that in many cases would-be homeowners find it incredibly difficult to qualify for the necessary credit. This could be particularly problematic for the market as affordability continues to decline, too, because the relatively small number of currently eligible buyers might be turned off by the higher costs.

Fortunately for buyers, and potentially the whole housing market, it seems that there is now a concerted effort under way on the part of federal regulators to get more credit availability into the mortgage market, according to a report from HousingWire. That includes the Federal Housing Finance Agency apparently making a more concerted effort to convince lenders to broaden their offerings to consumers whose credit ratings might be a little less prime than they would have preferred in the past.

A potential problem, and solution
Meanwhile, though, consumers' average credit scores have been slowly sliding even lower over the last several years, and that may make it even more difficult for the average American to potentially come close to qualifying for a mortgage, even if lenders do broaden their standards, the report said. To that end, FICO recently tweaked its credit scoring metrics to better account for bills that have been paid off or settled, particularly when it comes to medical debts. This could, theoretically, help to improve many shoppers' scores.

Further, experts have generally cautioned that consumers with diminished credit ratings who might be able to qualify for a mortgage would also generally have to pay far more than those with better standings, the report said. But to that end, it also seems as though many Americans may actually value the ability to buy a home, more so than the ability to keep their costs as low as possible. That may be the case even if they would end up paying tens of thousands more over the life of their loan.

However, that might not be the case much longer, as most experts project significant upticks in both home prices and mortgage rates over the coming months. That could serve to further discourage activity, and some analysts have warned that the resultant slowdown could lead to something of a "crisis" as soon as this winter.