Borrowers are earning less money but are finding it easier to obtain jumbo home loans.
The Wall Street Journal reports that looser underwriting rules have allowed more people to qualify for credit. Multiple lenders said that jumbo-loan volume increased this summer despite lower average monthly incomes of their borrowers.
“Jumbos are now viewed as the safest loans because the borrowers have strong income, excellent credit and plenty of assets, so competition has heated up,” says Jeff Taylor, managing partner at mortgage-consulting firm Digital Risk. “Big banks want these loans on their books because of strong performance.”
