While it was only a small gain, the June increase in the Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) was the sixth in a row.  The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said the index was up 0.2 percent compared to May, reaching 189.8.  A decline in the MCAI indicates that lending standards are tightening, while increases in the index are indicative of loosening credit.

"Overall credit availability increased only slightly in June over May's levels. Jumbo credit availability increased for the sixth month in a row and is at its highest level since 2011, when the survey began," said Joel Kan, MBA's Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. "Credit availability has generally increased in 2019 as lenders have worked to meet affordability challenges.  Because mortgage rates have recently fallen and home price growth has decelerated in many markets, credit availability may stabilize at its current levels."

The MCAI has two principal components. The Conventional MCAI increased 0.3 percent, while the Government MCAI decreased 0.1 percent. Of the component indices of the Conventional MCAI, the Jumbo MCAI increased by 0.6 percent, and the Conforming MCAI fell by 0.1 percent.

The MCAI is calculated using several factors related to borrower eligibility (credit score, loan type, loan-to-value ratio, etc.) gathered from over 95 lenders and investors. They are combined with data from Ellie Mae's AllRegs proprietary product to calculate a summary measure indicating the availability of mortgage credit at a point in time

The MCAI and its components are designed to show relative credit risk/availability for their respective indices and were benchmarked in March 2012. The total MCAI, Conforming, and Jumbo indices were indexed at 100 while the Conventional and Government indices were indexed at 73.5 and 183.5 respectively to better represent where each index might have been relative to 100.