Mortgage credit availability increased in January, according to a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

The association’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) increased 1.8 percent to 117.8 in January.  A decline in the MCAI indicates that lending standards are tightening, while increases in the index are indicative of a loosening of credit.  The index was benchmarked to 100 in March 2012.

"Several new initiatives aimed at making mortgage credit more available and affordable to consumers were recently announced and resulted in a net loosening of credit over the month," Mike Fratantoni, the MBA’s chief economist, said in a statement. He cited Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s December rollout of a new 3 percent down-payment loan option and the FHA’s recent reduction in mortgage insurance premiums.

"Since these announcements, roughly 40 percent of investors have begun to offer versions of the Fannie Mae 97 percent LTV program … and the conventional mortgage credit availability index increased three percent over the month as a result," Frantantoni added.

The MBA also released two new measures of credit availability, tracking jumbo and conventional loans, respectively. Both are also indexed to March 2012, as is the overall MCAI. For jumbo loans, credit availability increased in 1.9 percent in January, while credit availability for conforming, non-jumbo loans was up 1.8 percent. The MCAI for conventional loans was up 3.1 percent and for government-backed loans it was up 0.9 percent.