For December 2025, GSE issuance totaled $72.6BN, up 2.28% from November, and up 36.0% from December 2024. For property valuations, $53.8BN (74.1%) closed using appraisals, up 1.2%, and $17.3BN (23.8%) closed utilizing appraisal waivers, up marginally from the prior month.
Lenders delivered $1.56BN (2.2%) with inspection based appraisal waivers in December, up 6.9% from November, and up 87.5% from a year ago. This is the 9th consecutive month with over $1 billion loan balance issued. By loan count inspection based appraisal waivers were 2.25% of issuance, down 12.3%.
Overall, inspection based waivers in December were 8.3% of the combined non-appraisal solutions by loan balance. By loan count, inspection-based waivers represented 8.9% of all waiver solutions. The use of inspection based appraisal waivers in December was up 87.5% from 12 months ago.
Combined use of inspection based waivers and appraisal waivers in December was 25.9% by balance and 25.1% by loan count.
Agency share of appraisal waivers in December
Fannie Mae Valuation Acceptance + Property Data market share of inspection based waivers in December was 57.5% on volume of $897M, up 14.4% from November. There are 452 lenders who have delivered loans through Fannie Mae Valuation Acceptance + Property Data, including 244 independent mortgage companies and 126 banks and 85 credit unions. A total of 154 lenders issued loans using inspection based appraisal waivers in December with Valuation Acceptance + Property Data, up 24.2% from November, and up 116.9% from the prior year.
Freddie Mac ACE+ PDR (Automated Collateral Evaluation plus Property Data Report) market share for inspection based waivers in December was 42.5% on volume of $663MM, down 1.9% from November. Freddie Mac participation is at 505 lenders, including 199 banks, 44 credit unions, and 263 non-banks. A total of 121 individual lenders issued loans using inspection based waivers with ACE+ PDR, down 19.3% from November, and down marginally from the prior year.
Bank, Credit Union & Nonbank appraisal alternatives
For bank sellers, 71.6% have used appraisal waivers and 27.1% have used inspection based waivers to deliver loans to the GSEs in the past couple of years. In December 51.8% used appraisal waivers and 9.7% used inspection based waivers.
For credit union sellers, 75.7% have used appraisal waivers and 25.9% have used inspection based waivers to deliver loans to the GSEs, again since 2023. In December 52.1% used appraisal waivers and 7.0% used inspection based waivers.
For nonbank sellers, 80.1% have used appraisal waivers and 47.1% have used inspection based waivers to deliver loans to the GSEs. In December 74.6% used appraisal waivers and 28.4% used inspection based appraisal waivers.
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Production channel
Broker channel issuance was $11.5BN (15.9%) in December with 122 lenders delivering loans, down marginally on last month. Correspondent channel issuance was $27.1BN (37.4%) from 174 lenders, up 9.9% from the prior month. Retail issuance was $33.5BN (46.2%) from 1,213 lenders, down 2.3% from November.
For inspection based appraisal waivers in December, broker volume was $482M (30.1%) down 5.8% from 31 sellers. The correspondent channel was $325MM (20.8%) up 38.9% from the prior month in the overall volume, from 35 aggregators. Retail channel utilization of inspection-based waivers was $750M (48.1%) of issuance, up 6.1% from 165 lenders.
Loan Purpose
Purchase volume using inspection based appraisal waivers in December was $960M (61.5%), up 2.5% from November, and up 146.4% from last year. Refinance (cash out) volume using inspection based appraisal waivers in December was $179M (11.5%) up 13.2% from November, and down 33.5% from last year. Refinance (limited or no cash out) volume using inspection based appraisal waivers in December was $421M (27.0%) up 15.2% from November, and up 142.1% from last year.
Utilization of waivers – 2025 in review
Agency issuance in 2025 was $715BN, up 7.31% on 2024. Appraisals were used for $573BN (80.1%), up 1.1% on 2024.
For 2025, the appraisal waivers were used to deliver $127.5BN (17.8%) of loans to the GSEs, up 42.1% on 2024. For inspection based waivers issuance was $15.1BN (2.1%) up 46.5% on 2024.
In 2025 a total of 364 direct sellers and 897 correspondents delivered loans to the GSEs with inspection based waivers. These included 323 banks, 105 credit unions and 836 non-banks.
December saw 196 (15.5%) of all direct sellers deliver loans to the GSEs with inspection based waivers, including aggregators. For comparison, in December 754 (59.6%) of all active sellers delivered loans to the GSEs with appraisal waivers.
This is the highest participation by lenders on a monthly basis for over 2 years.
More about inspection based waivers in December
For lenders who wish to learn more, you can check out the following articles. These include links to the Freddie Mac ACE+ PDR and Fannie Mae Valuation Acceptance and collateral valuation modernization strategies, new programs, selling guide updates, FAQs, process flow, job aids, approved technology and service providers, and information about the property data standards and user guides:
- Implementing the Freddie Mac Inspection-based Waivers – Quick Reference for Lenders
- Implementing the Fannie Mae Inspection-based Waivers – Quick Reference for Lenders
In addition, you can access the Freddie Mac ACE+ PDR Solution page and the Fannie Mae Value Acceptance + Property Data FAQ.