| Mortgage credit availability decreased in June, according to the Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI), a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) which analyzes data from Ellie Mae.
The MCAI decreased 0.5 percent to 122.0 in June. 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.
Of the four component indices, the Conventional MCAI saw the greatest tightening (down 1.0 percent over the month) followed by the Jumbo MCAI (down 0.6 percent), the Conforming MCAI (down 0.3 percent) and the Government MCAI (down 0.2 percent).
“This month, mortgage credit availability reverted to its April level, taking back the gains observed in May,” Lynn Fisher, MBA’s vice president of research and economics, said in a statement. “Despite recent signs of improvement in housing markets, mortgage credit availability stalled in June. Increases driven by higher availability of cash out refinance loans were more than offset by reduced availability of other types of loans this month, resulting in a decline in the index from May.”
The MCAI is calculated using several factors related to borrower eligibility, including credit score, loan type and loan-to-value ratio.
