First time homebuyers will not be able to return to the realestate market until the process for obtaining a mortgage moderatesand does not scare so many of them away.

That's according to Stuart Miller, CEO of Lennar Corp., a Miami-based home construction company,who told analysts on a Sept. 17 conference call about the firm'sthird quarter earnings. He said the firm is “very well-positioned”for what he characterized as the home building industry's “slow andshallow recovery” from the housing market crisis and GreatRecession.

However, during a question and answer period, he said problemswith the mortgage process were among the reasons first-timehomebuyers were not coming back into the market in great numbersyet.

“It's still very difficult for that market to get reigniteduntil we start to see a little bit more movement in terms of accessto the mortgage market,” Miller said on the conference call.

He cited what he called the three barriers to the first-timehomebuyer coming back into the market: the requirement of a downpayment, very stiff underwriting on mortgage loans and the process of obtaining amortgage.

“The process itself has become fairly invasive, at least interms of how people see the process and feel the process,” Millersaid, adding that whenever he speaks about this topic to a group ofpeople, three or four in the audience always raise their hands andsay, “yep, I know just what you mean by invasive.”

“The process seems almost to scare people away,” Miller said.“The barriers are a little bit steep right now.”

Still, he expressed optimism that the loanprocess would moderate over time and that the market forfirst-time home purchasing would pick up again.

Lennar builds both single and multifamily homes in 18 statesaround the country and posted earnings of $177.8 million in thethird quarter, according to Miller.