This index includes rate locks from U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs loans. Optimal Blue Mortgage Market Indices (https://www2.optimalblue.com/obmmi/)™ (OBMMI™) is calculated from actual locked rates with consumers across over one-third of all mortgage transactions nationwide. OBMMI includes multiple mortgage pricing indices developed around the most popular products and specific borrower and loan level attributes. Each index is calculated as the average of all appropriate rate locks locked through the Optimal Blue product eligibility and pricing engine on a given day. More details about methodology and definitions are available here (https://www2.optimalblue.com/obmmi/).
Source: Life Insurance Association Of America, Data For 1952-1963: Mimeographed Summary Table On "New Commitments Of Reporting Life Insurance Companies"; Data For 1964-1965: Monthly Tabulation Of "Forward Investment Commitments Of Life Insurance Companies" This NBER data series m10171 appears on the NBER website in Chapter 10 at http://www.nber.org/databases/macrohistory/contents/chapter10.html. NBER Indicator: m10171