Loans get scarcer for US developers trying to finish jobs

New York

LENDERS are getting stingier when it comes to funding risky US real estate developments, putting pressure on landlords in need of fresh funding to keep their projects afloat.

Banks are proceeding with caution as the spectre of slowing economic growth rattles financial markets and shakes investor confidence in a six-year recovery that's helped lift property values to records. Lenders are going to be more selective and discriminating as the year progresses, said Mark Myers, head of the commercial real estate business at Wells Fargo & Co, the largest US commercial-property lender.