June 5th, 2014 9:55 AM by Jackie A. Graves, President
The increase in the index, benchmarked to 100 in March 2012, was partially due to a slight uptick in the availability of jumbo loans. There was also a move by some investors toward lowering credit scores for FHA loans.
The MCAI is calculated using data from the AllRegs® Market Clarity® product and a proprietary formula derived by MBA. It takes into account several factors of borrower eligibility such as credit scores, loan type, and loan-to-value ratio taken from its regular survey of over 85 lenders and investors.
MBA has also produced a new expanded historical series which tracks credit availability over the previous ten years. This series permits historical perspective on credit availability since 2004, a period which includes both the housing boom and the ensuing recession.
BY: JANN SWANSON – To view the original article click here