Mortgage credit availability fell in June despite signs of improving housing markets, says the Mortgage Bankers Association.
The Mortgage Credit Availability Index fell 0.5% to 122 in June. A decrease in the index indicates a tightening of lending standards; an increase indicates a loosening of them.
The MBA generates the index by looking at loan program data from Ellie Mae's AllRegs Market Clarity product. In March 2012, MCAI was benchmarked to 100.
"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," Lynn Fisher, MBA vice president of research and economics, said in a statement accompanying the data.
The conventional MCAI reported the greatest tightening with a 1% decrease over the month. The jumbo MCAI fell 0.6%, the conforming MCAI fell 0.3% and the government MCAI fell 0.2%.
