Residential Real Estate News
Mortgage Credit Availability Upticks in October
Mortgage Bankers Association is reporting this week that U.S. mortgage credit availability increased in October 2021, based on their latest Mortgage Credit Availability Index readings.
The MCAI rose by 0.1 percent to 125.7 in October. 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. The Conventional MCAI increased 0.1 percent, while the Government MCAI remained essentially unchanged. Of the component indices of the Conventional MCAI, the Jumbo MCAI increased by 4.1 percent, and the Conforming MCAI fell by 6.0 percent.
"Credit availability inched forward in October, but the overall index was 30 percent lower than February 2020 and close to the lowest supply of mortgage credit since 2014," said Joel Kan, MBA's Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. "Within the subindexes, a 4 percent increase in the jumbo index was essentially offset by a 6 percent drop in the conforming index. There was an increase in the supply of jumbo ARM and non-QM products, which drove most of the increase in the jumbo index. On the conforming side, there was a pullback in ARMs, higher LTV loans, and lower credit score products. While there is tightening in ARM credit availability both for jumbo and conforming loans, ARM loans have accounted for a small share of loan applications, ranging from 2.5 percent to 5 percent of applications to date in 2021."
Added Kan, "Tight credit availability, combined with ongoing supply and affordability challenges, are significant obstacles for some prospective first-time buyers."
