Loosening lending standards driven by conventional supply
Mortgage credit availability increased in July according to an analysis of data from Ellie Mae’s AllRegs® Market Clarity® business information tool.
The Mortgage Brokers Association’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) gained 1.7% in July to 184.1. This was driven by a 4.2% rise in the Conventional MCAI with its jumbo component increasing 5.8% and the conforming component up 2%.
Meanwhile, the Government MCAI was down 0.4%.
"Credit availability continued to expand, driven by an increase in conventional credit supply. More than half of the programs added were for jumbo loans, pushing the jumbo index to its fourth straight increase, and to its highest level since we started collecting these data. There was also continued growth in the conforming non-jumbo space, which reached its highest level since October 2013," said Joel Kan, MBA's Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting.
