Mortgage credit availability increased in January, rising 2.1% to a score of 182.9 on the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI).
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.
Credit availability for conventional loans increased 3.6%, while credit availability for government loans increased 0.9%.
Credit availability for jumbo loans increased 6.1%, while credit availability for conforming loans increased 1.1%.
“Credit availability increased across the board in January, more than reversing December declines in almost all component indices,” says Lynn Fisher, vice president of research and economics for the MBA, in a release. “Jumbo credit programs rebounded most strongly and reached a new series high, driven by an increase in the number of programs with reduced documentation requirements. In government lending programs, credit availability remains somewhat lower than the rest of 2017.”