Inspection based waivers in April – brokers top 40% of issuance for first time

For April 2025, GSE issuance totaled $47.5N, up 4.4% on March, and down 5.3% on April 2024. For property valuations, $39.1BN (84.5%) closed using appraisals, up 1.6%, and $7.42BN (15.6%) closed utilizing appraisal waivers, up 35.4% on the prior month.

Lenders delivered $1.03BN (2.17%) with inspection based appraisal waivers in April, up 11.0% on March. This is the 2nd month where inspection based appraisal waivers have surpassed 2% of loan balance issued, and the 3rd month where inspection based appraisal waivers have exceeded $1BN since the GSE programs started.

Overall, inspection based waivers in April were 12.2% of the combined appraisal waiver (non-appraisal) solutions by loan balance. By number of loans delivered, inspection-based waivers were 14.1% of all waiver solutions.

Combined use of inspection based waivers and appraisal waivers in April was 17.8% by balance and 19.3% by loan count.

Agency share of appraisal waivers in April

Fannie Mae Valuation Acceptance + Property Data market share of inspection based waivers in April was down marginally to 73.4% on volume of $758MM, up 9.0% on March. There are 406 lenders who have delivered loans through Fannie Mae Valuation Acceptance + Property Data, including 220 independent mortgage companies and 115 banks and 72 credit unions. A total of 83 lenders issued loans using inspection based appraisal waivers in February with Valuation Acceptance + Property Data, up 12.2% on February.

Freddie Mac ACE+ PDR (Automated Collateral Evaluation plus Property Data Report) market share for inspection based waivers in April was 26.6% on volume of $275MM, up 16.7%. Freddie Mac participation is at 466 lenders, including 182 banks, 40 credit unions, and 244 non-banks. A total of 109 individual lenders issued loans using inspection based waivers with ACE+ PDR, up 3.8% on the prior month.

Bank, credit union & nonbank using appraisal alternatives

For bank sellers, 69.7% have used appraisal waivers and 25.5% have used inspection based waivers to deliver loans to the GSEs in the past couple of years. In April 38.3% used appraisal waivers and 7.4% used inspection based waivers.

For credit union sellers, 73.6% have used appraisal waivers and 24.1% have used inspection based waivers to deliver loans to the GSEs, again since 2023. In April 43.0% used appraisal waivers and 6.0% used inspection based waivers.

For nonbank sellers, 79.4% have used appraisal waivers and 50% have used inspection based waivers to deliver loans to the GSEs. In April 60.7% used appraisal waivers and 21.1% used inspection based appraisal waivers.

Production channel

Broker channel issuance was $9.0BN in February with 127 lenders delivering loans, up 6.7% on last month. Correspondent channel issuance was $17.1BN from 183 lenders, up 8.6%. Retail issuance was $21.4BN from 1,176 lenders, up 0.4% on April.

For inspection based appraisal waivers in April, broker volume was $422MM and 40.8% of loans delivered, up 19.7% from 19 sellers. The correspondent channel was $157MM and 15.2%, up 48.0% of the overall volume from the prior month, from 27 aggregators. Retail channel utilization of inspection-based waivers was down 3.9% to $454MM at 44.0% of issuance from 130 lenders.

Broker channel 41% of issuance in April

The broker channel issuance in April of $421MM was the largest since the GSE programs began, and 122% higher than a year ago on 5.3% lower volume. Correspondent issuance was the 3rd largest and 45% higher than a year ago, with larger aggregator seeing more loans delivered from their correspondents.

Hybrid appraisals, now live in the GSE selling guides, use the same on-site property inspection report as inspection based appraisal waivers, so expect to see the same lenders be early users of these new valuation solutions.

More about inspection based appraisal waivers in March