Harder for Borrowers to Secure a Loan in February, Credit Availability Hits Multi-Year Lows

Mortgage credit availability fell to just short of its 2012 benchmark level in February. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) dropped 3.0 percent from its January level to a reading of 100.1. A decline in the MCAI indicates that lending standards are tightening, while increases in the index are indicative of loosening credit. The index was benchmarked to 100 in March 2012. “ Mortgage credit availability decreased to its lowest level since January 2013 with all loan types seeing declines in availability over the month,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist. “The conforming subindex decreased 4.3 percent to its lowest level in the survey, which goes back to 2011. This decline was driven by the ongoing trend of shrinking industry capacity as mortgage rates stayed significantly higher than a year ago. Additionally, in this volatile rate environment and potentially weakening economy, there was also a reduction in refinance programs offered for low credit score and high-LTV borrowers.” The MCAI has four component indices. The Conventional MCAI decreased 4.4 percent, while the Government MCAI was down 1.6 percent. The two component indices of the Conventional MCAI fell sharply, the decline in the Conforming MCAI noted by Kan and a 4.4 percent drop in the Jumbo index. The MCAI and its components are calculated using several factors related to borrower eligibility (credit score, loan type, loan-to-value ratio, etc.). These metrics and underwriting criteria for over 95 lenders/investors are combined by MBA using data made available via a proprietary product from ICE Mortgage Technology. The resulting calculations are summary measures which indicate the availability of mortgage credit at a point in time. All indices were benchmarked on March 31, 2012.

March 14, 2023 Download our Mobile App: Download our Mobile App: Housing News Harder for Borrowers to Secure a Loan in February, Credit Availability Hits Multi-Year Lows Mortgage credit availability fell to just short of its 2012 benchmark level in February. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) dropped 3.0 percent from its January level to a reading of 100.1. A d... (read more) MBS Commentary Where's the 4th Biggest Bank Failure? Where's the 4th Biggest Bank Failure? With the 2nd biggest bank failure in history on Friday and the 3rd biggest over the weekend, it isn't entirely insane to keep an eye out for imitators. This was a concern... (read more) Mortgage Rate Watch Mortgage Rates Jump Back Up to Friday's Levels Mortgage rates made substantial gains yesterday as financial markets underwent a classic flight to safety. This involves selling riskier assets like stocks and buying fixed-income assets like bonds. When investors buy bonds, it puts downw... (read more) Rob Chrisman Hedging, Revenue, Marketing, CRM, POS Products, Counterparty Questionnaire Pi Day has come around once again, which is also, coincidentally, Albert Einstein’s birthday. As I head to Lexington for the MBA Kentucky Education Conference, led by Alan Thorup, Matt O. sent, “I have an idea: We organize a 10k race in San Jose and ... (read more) Mortgage Rates 30 Yr. Fixed Rate 6.75% +0.18% Rate Change Points Mortgage News Daily 30 Yr. Fixed 6.75% +0.18 0.00 15 Yr. Fixed 6.22% +0.22 0.00 30 Yr. FHA 6.25% +0.15 0.00 30 Yr. Jumbo 6.20% +0.05 0.00 5/1 ARM 6.59% +0.47 0.00 30 Yr. VA 6.27% +0.15 0.00 Updates Daily - Last Update: 3/14 15 Yr. Fixed Rate 6.22% +0.22% Rate Change Points Freddie Mac 30 Yr. Fixed 6.73% +0.08 0.00 15 Yr. Fixed 5.95% +0.06 0.00 Updates Weekly - Last Update: 3/9 Rate Change Points Mortgage Bankers Assoc. 30 Yr. Fixed 6.79% +0.08 0.80 15 Yr. Fixed 6.25% +0.12 1.01 30 Yr. Jumbo 6.49% +0.05 0.59 Updates Weekly - Last Update: 3/8 MBS / Treasuries UMBS 30YR 5.5 100.08 -0.27 Price / Yield Change MBS UMBS 5.5 100.08 -0.27 UMBS 6.0 101.36 +0.08 GNMA 5.5 100.47 -0.06 GNMA 6.0 101.31 +0.27 Pricing as of: 3/14 5:31PM EST 10 Year US Treasury 3.6950 +0.1501 Price / Yield Change US Treasury 2 YR Treasury 4.259 +0.243 5 YR Treasury 3.860 +0.178 7 YR Treasury 3.807 +0.158 10 YR Treasury 3.695 +0.150 30 YR Treasury 3.810 +0.116 Pricing as of: 3/14 5:31PM EST Latest Video The real risk coming down the pipeline is probably commercial real estate r... Mortgage rates tick higher on cool CPI report I think the Fed should pause right now, says Trivariate Research's Adam Par... Russian collides with U.S. Reaper drone over Black Sea Around the Web CNBC Heres the inflation breakdown for February in one chart CNBC Inflation gauge increased 0.4% in February, as expected and up 6% from a year ago CNBC Something broke, but the Fed is still expected to go through with rate hikes CNBC Morgan Stanley is testing an OpenAI-powered chatbot for its 16,000 financial advisors CNBC SVB's new CEO urges clients to 'help us rebuild our deposit base' CNBC Jeffrey Gundlach says Fed will hike funds rate next week to save credibility but shouldn't Calculated Risk Blog 2nd Look at Local Housing Markets in February CNBC Private equity firms Apollo and KKR among those reviewing Silicon Valley Bank loans CNBC First Republic shares jump 20% as regional banks try to rebound from Mondays selloff CNBC Charles Schwab CEO says firm is seeing significant inflows even as stock gets hit during banking selloff Calculated Risk Blog YoY Measures of Inflation: Services, Goods and Shelter CNBC Treasury yields rise as investors assess interest rate outlook ahead of key inflation data Calculated Risk Blog Cleveland Fed: Median CPI increased 0.6% and Trimmed-mean CPI increased 0.5% in February

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