Recent news shows that mortgage credit availability increased in August, moving 0.5 percent to 126.1, which suggests a national loosening of credit.
This news comes from the Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI), a study from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) which reports that the index was benchmarked to 100 in March 2012. Of the four component indices, the Jumbo MCAI saw the greatest loosening (up 0.7 percent over the month) followed by the Conventional MCAI (up 0.5 percent), the Government MCAI (up 0.4 percent), and the Conforming MCAI (up 0.3 percent).
“Mortgage credit availability increased in August and has increased in eight of the last nine months,” says Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Chief Economist. “While much of the loosening has been for jumbo loan products, the availability of conforming conventional mortgage credit has also somewhat increased, including for mortgages with higher loan-to-value ratios and borrowers with lower credit scores. Fannie Mae recently announced changes to their affordability suite of products, but these changes have not yet impacted the MCAI.”
For more information, visit https://www.mba.org
