Mortgage Credit Availability Increased in July: MBA

By Andy Peters August 06, 2015, 4:40 p.m. EDT 1 Min Read

Mortgage credit availability rose in July, as lenders pushed higher-balance loan products, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The Mortgage Credit Availability Index rose 2.9% to 125.5 in July. An increase indicates a loosening of lending standards; a decrease indicates a tightening 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.

"Credit availability increased in July, mainly driven by higher-balance loan programs," Mike Fratantoni, the MBA's chief economist, said in a news release. "Many investors are fine-tuning their cash-out refinance requirements to meet increasing borrower demand for home equity financing. Some investors increased the availability of low down payment loans."

The conventional MCAI reported the highest increase with a 5.2% rise over the month. The jumbo MCAI rose 4.7%, the government MCAI rose 0.9% and the conforming MCAI rose 0.4%.

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