Mortgage credit availability decreased 0.8% in May and fell to a score of 121.4 on the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI).
Decreases in the score indicate that lending standards are tightening, while increases are indicative of loosening credit. The index was benchmarked to 100 in March 2012.
Looking at credit availability by loan type, jumbo loans saw the greatest tightening (down 1.3%) during the month, followed by government-backed loans (down 1.0%), conventional loans (down 0.8%) and the conforming loans (down 0.3%).
It was the third consecutive month that mortgage credit availability decreased, according to the index.
Lynn Fisher, vice president of research and economics for the MBA, says the “gains in credit availability caused by the continued rollout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s low down payment programs were offset by modest tightening among government loan programs that serve borrowers in high-cost areas.”
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