U.S. Mortgage Credit Availability Dips in August

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The Mortgage Bankers Association is reporting this week that mortgage credit availability in the U.S. decreased in August 2016, based on their Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI).

The MCAI decreased 0.4 percent to 164.7 in August. A decline in the MCAI indicates that lending standards are tightening, while increases in the index are indicative of loosening credit. The index was benchmarked to 100 in March 2012. Of the four component indices, the Conforming MCAI saw the greatest decrease in availability over the month (down 0.9 percent), followed by the Government MCAI (down 0.5 percent), and the Conventional MCAI (down 0.2 percent). The Jumbo MCAI increased 0.5 percent from last month.

"Credit availability decreased slightly over the month, driven by one mid-sized investor closing their correspondent operations," said Lynn Fisher, MBA's Vice President of Research and Economics. "Despite the loss of all of the programs associated with this investor, the Jumbo MCAI increased by 0.5 percent, indicating that credit conditions continue to ease among jumbo loan programs."