Q. Is it really that hard to get a mortgage these days? A: Nope.

[Nick Gromicko]

In studying data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, which covers more than 80% of all home lending in the United States, Zillow's chief economist Stan Humphries found that in 2000, only 54% of applications for conventional, owner-occupied, home purchase mortgages on one- to four-family homes resulted in mortgage originations (the balance being denied, withdrawn, or approved but not accepted by the borrower).

By 2006, standards were indeed looser and 61% of applications for conventional mortgages resulted in originations. So what happened after the bust?

In 2010 63% of conventional mortgage applications resulted in originations. That’s right, for conventional mortgages, the conversion rate between applications and originations was actually higher last year than in either 2000 or 2006.

[Stephen W. Stanczyk]

Because the actual number of applications are lower due to pre-qualifying. If someone is told they can't or won't get a mortgage, they don't apply. The quality of loan applicant qualifications is higher than in the past.