Despite the rapid rise in home sales since the darkest days of the Great Recession — and historically low interest rates — the number of mortgages issued in Southwest Florida has fallen.

The decline comes as banks, the recipients of bailout funds from the recently eclipsed Troubled Assets Relief Program, are being prodded by Washington to make loans more available to revive a flagging economy and housing market.

The nation’s largest institutions claim they are following through, but in this region the numbers do not bear that out.

Court records show that only 7,276 mortgages were issued in Sarasota County during the first eight months of 2010, an 18 percent drop from the same period a year ago.

Bank analysts and market watchers say the drop has to do with tightened credit standards since the onset of the housing and financial crisis; a reluctance on the part of both lenders and their customers to deploy borrowed money in low-end real estate deals; and the undisputed dominance of cash buyers in the market.

In terms of credit, the pendulum has swung dramatically from the days of easy money during the run-up to the real estate downturn, when little proof of income was needed.

Today, banks are meticulous about collecting tax, income and credit score data, and there is no certainty that a qualified borrower will be able to get a loan even after producing all that information.

As a result, some buyers do not even bother trying to get loans, viewing them as a distinct disadvantage in the fast-paced game of hunting for the best deals on properties that have fallen into foreclosure or are being sold through short sales.

“I had a first-time home buyer who lost four houses in a row because he was trying the get an FHA loan,” said Kathy Marlowe, who owns her own Sarasota real estate brokerage, referring to the Federal Housing Administration. “Whether sellers are banks or a private owners, they don’t want to deal with appraisal issues or something else that may come up down the road. They want to make sure buyers can close when they say they will close. If a deal has a loan attached, there is more uncertainty.

“That’s why the seller will always choose a buyer who is paying with cash,” she said.

Sixty percent of the 3,250 single-family homes sold in Sarasota County during the four months ended Aug. 31 were all-cash deals, according to statistics provided by Sarasota real estate agent Adam Robinson of Sarasota-Foreclosures.com.

The percentage was even higher with condominiums — 77 percent of the 619 units sold were cash deals during the same four-month period.

In many cases, it is impossible to get loans for condo purchases, said Perry Corneau, a Sarasota condo specialist.

Banks will not loan if too many of the units in a complex are owned by investors, or if the association does not have adequate reserves to take care of emergency repairs.

“My buyers are paying cash,” Corneau said. “They recognize the good deals and are taking advantage of them. Others may recognize good deals, but they don’t have the money to do anything about it.”