Having dropped to its lowest level since 2012 at the end of last year, mortgage credit availability, as indexed by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has since inched up a total of 2 percent over the past four months, including a 0.1 percent increase in April, but remains around 6 percent lower than at the same time last year, with “origination volume moving at a slow pace,” not surging, and the average rate for a 30-year mortgage having moderated around 7 percent.