When will Lending Standards Begin to Relax?

I get this question almost daily. When will residential mortgage lending standards loosen up so more American's can refinance their homes?

Very capable, qualified homeowners with Fico scores above 700, have steady jobs, strong income, and are never late on their mortgage payment and can't qualify for a new mortgage so they can lower their current interest rate and payment. When will the Fed's and proponents of Dodd-Frank realize how this bill has prevented credit worthy homeowners from taking advantage to current historically low mortgage interest rates? Can you imagine what a boost it would be to the economy if American families had an extra $400-$700 per month discretionary cash flow to buy more goods and services!?
As 30-year rates hit historic lows, some borrowers are hoping that lenders will be loosening their underwriting standards and that it will be easier to qualify for a mortgage.  They're hoping in vain: industry data shows that controls have gotten even tighter. I don't remember where I saw the stat, but the average credit score on new loans closed in August 2012 was 750, nine points higher than a year prior.  Fannie and Freddie borrowers' scores averaged 763 for that same period, and considering that fewer than 22% of Americans have credit scores over 749, there are a lot of people out there who are highly unlikely to qualify for a loan.  Lenders also appear to be requiring larger down payments, with the average Fannie and Freddie borrower putting down 21% (to put that in context, the median down payment in 2005 was 2%.) Originators hope that eventually lenders probably will relax about upcoming regulation, be less fearful about costly buyback demands from the GSEs, and strip away some of their extra credit-risk fees.  The key word here, though, is "eventually."