(RECAP: The Urban Institute found that the conventional mortgages that lenders sold to Fannie and Freddie combined (meaning loans less than $417,000 with at least a 5 percent down payment) had an average credit score of 752 in March, down from 758 a year earlier. The same trend applies to mortgages backed by FHA, a popular source of low-down-payment loans for cash-strapped, first-time buyers. The scores on those loans averaged 686, down from 697. But pool all those loans together, and not much has changed in a year. Or at least the change isn’t nearly as dramatic. The average credit score remains around: 730.That’s pretty darn high compared to the 700 average before the housing bubble, when lending standards were extremely lax.)