Mortgage credit availability decreased in September according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index.
- M-O-M: The MCAI fell by 5.4% to 102.5 in September. This was thanks to a 4.9% decline in the Conventional MCAI, while the Government MCAI decreased by 5.7%.
- Y-O-Y: The MCAI was down 18.5% from the same time one year ago.
9 Year Low. After seven consecutive months of tightening, credit availability has now fallen to the lowest level since March 2013.
Analysis. Joel Kan, Economist at MBA, said raising rates is forcing mortgage companies to get leaner. “As mortgage rates have more than doubled over the past year, resulting in a drop in refinance activity, lenders have worked to reduce excess capacity and costs by eliminating underutilized loan programs. All the component indices declined last month, with most of the indices falling to their lowest levels in over a year. In particular, the government credit availability index has declined in seven of the last eight months to its lowest level since April 2013.”
Just another reminder that 2022 is not 2008…
