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The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Mortgage Credit Availability Index was flat at 116.1 for the month, the group reported Thursday. The gauge is calculated based on borrower eligibility metrics nationwide and underwriting criteria for more than 85 lenders and investors. At its current level, the index points to a slightly looser credit market now compared to when it was benchmarked in March 2012.

In a report earlier this week, online listings site Realtor.com observed a largely steady trend line in housing market indicators in August, with prices leveling out from month to month and limited inventory dipping slightly. Demand was most evident among the country's millennial population. However, with relatively few homes on the market, prices pushing upward, and lending standards still tight, few in that group have been able to make the jump to homeownership.

Compared to August, loan application volumes were down 1 percent in September, macroeconomic research firm Capital Economics reported Wednesday. The decline came even as mortgage rates hovered at an average 4.32 percent for 30-year fixed-rate loans, slightly above August's average and within the 10-basis-point range interest rates have occupied since May.

As existing-home sales dipped in August, so too did contract signings, according to an industry measure. The National Association of Realtors reported a 1 percent decline in its ...

Including seasonal factors, the S&P/Case-Shiller 10- and 20-city indices both posted a 0.5 percent decline from June to July, S&P Dow Jones Indices reported. Those losses compare to declines of 0.2 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, from May to June. The National Index, recently added as a monthly (rather than quarterly) measure, inched up a meager 0.2 percent, a step up from its 0.1 percent drop in June.

AEI's National Mortgage Risk Index measured 11.3 percent last month, little changed from July's index, the group said. As a stress test, the index measures the percentage of loans that would be at risk of turning sour in the event of an economic downturn. Though the index has come down in recent months, it remains nearly twice the acceptable level "conducive to a stable market," AEI said.

Despite complaints that low appraisals are disrupting home sales, a new analysis from FNC Inc. argues that valuations have had little impact in the delayed housing recovery. While ...

Freddie Mac's Multi-Indicator Market Index (MiMi) fell back nearly half a percentage point to 73.4 in its latest reading, the company reported earlier this week. According to the company, the decline "appear[ed] to be broad-based, and not concentrated in a handful of state or metro markets." As of the latest reading, Freddie Mac says the index is up 22.7 percent from its all-time low in 2011.

As home values have made a rapid ascent in the past few years, those on the sales side point to lagging appraisal models as a major hurdle to finalizing transactions. In a newly released report, however, FNC maintains that despite anecdotal reports, "there is no strong evidence that low appraisal valuations contributed to mortgages falling through."

The nation's negative equity rate dipped closer to single digits in the year's second quarter, according to new data released Thursday. Property information firm CoreLogic reported that nearly ...