Mortgage Credit Availability Up, Valuation Perception Gap Narrows

Jun 12, 2018

The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) has awarded $47 million in housing counseling grants that are designed to help potential homeowners find residential property and assist current homeowners to keep their residences

Mortgage credit availability is rising and the gap between appraisers and homeowners on perceived valuations is shrinking, according to a pair of new data reports.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) increased 1.5 percent to 180.6 in May. All four components within the index were on the rise: The Conventional MCAI was up by two percent, the Government MCAI inched up one percent, the Jumbo MCAI was 2.2 percent higher and the Conforming MCAI saw a 1.9 percent upswing.

"The expansion of offerings across all loan types drove credit availability to its highest level in three months," said MBA Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting Joel Kan. "In particular, the conventional index and jumbo index both rose to their highest levels since March 2011. This was mainly caused by increased investor interest in jumbo loans and high balance conforming loans."

Separately, Quicken Loans' National Home Price Perception Index for May found appraisal values last month were an average of 0.34 percent lower than homeowners expected. Quicken Loans’ Home Value Index four appraisal values up by 0.71 percent in May—compared to May 2017, home values are 6.56 percent higher.

"As we hit peak real estate season, the number of eager buyers continued to outpace the number of homes that were available, which has led to surges in appraisal values across the country and especially in the Northeast," said Bill Banfield, Quicken Loans Executive Vice President of Capital Markets. "The only remedy is to accelerate the pace of construction to fill this need."

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Phil Hall

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Jun 12, 2018

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