Administrative changes for conventional and super conforming loans caused mortgage credit availability to decrease, according to the Mortgage Credit Availability Index, a report from Mortgage Bankers Association which analyzes data from Ellie Mae’s AllRegs Market Clarity business information tool.

The MCAI decreased to 123.5 in March, a decrease of only 0.2%.

This decrease was only slight, in part, because it was offset by government lending programs such as FHA, VA and RHS, where the lending standards were slightly relaxed, stated Lynn Fisher, MBA vice president of research and economics.

Out of the four component indices, the Government MCAI loosened the most during March at an increase of 0.9%, whereas Conventional MCAI saw the most tightening at a decrease of 1.6%, followed by the Conforming MCAI with a decrease of 0.4% and the Jumbo MCAI with a decrease of 0.2%.