Inspection Based Waivers In April – Now $1.86BN

For April 2026, GSE issuance totaled $78.3BN, up 8.5% from March, and up 64.8% from April 2025. For property valuations, $56.2BN (71.8%) closed using appraisals, up 8.2%, and $20.2BN (25.8%) closed utilizing appraisal waivers, up 9.0% from the prior month.

Lenders delivered $1.86BN (2.37%) with inspection based appraisal waivers in April, up 16.3% from March, and up 79.7% from a year ago. This is the largest monthly issuance since the GSE introduced these solutions. By loan count inspection based appraisal waivers were 2.71% of issuance, up 18.9% over last month.

Overall, inspection based waivers in April were 8.4% of the combined non-appraisal solutions by loan balance. By loan count, inspection-based waivers represented 11.2% of all waiver solutions.

Combined use of inspection based waivers and appraisal waivers in April was 28.2% by balance and 29.8% 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 62.1% on volume of $1.15BN, up 26.0% from March. There are 510 lenders who have delivered loans through Fannie Mae Valuation Acceptance + Property Data, including 269 independent mortgage companies and 146 banks and 100 credit unions. A total of 205 lenders issued loans using inspection based appraisal waivers in April with Valuation Acceptance + Property Data, up 7.9% from March, and up 147.0% from the prior year.

Freddie Mac ACE+ PDR (Automated Collateral Evaluation plus Property Data Report) market share for inspection based waivers in April was 37.9% on volume of $704MM, up 3.3% from March. Freddie Mac participation is at 520 lenders, including 208 banks, 45 credit unions, and 269 non-banks. A total of 161 individual lenders issued loans using inspection based waivers with ACE+ PDR, up 22.0% from March, and up 47.7% from the prior year.

Bank, Credit Union & Nonbank appraisal alternatives

For bank sellers, 73.9% have used appraisal waivers and 28.3% have used inspection based waivers to deliver loans to the GSEs in the past couple of years. In April 57.3% used appraisal waivers and 12.8% used inspection based waivers, up 64.7% and 84.5% respectively from a year ago.

For credit union sellers, 76.1% have used appraisal waivers and 26.6% have used inspection based waivers to deliver loans to the GSEs, again since 2023. In April 56.0% used appraisal waivers and 12.0% used inspection based waivers, up 41.3% and 106.3% respectively from a year ago.

For nonbank sellers, 80.4% have used appraisal waivers and 48.4% have used inspection based waivers to deliver loans to the GSEs. In April 78.5% used appraisal waivers and 33.7% used inspection based appraisal waivers, up 25.2% and 52.1% respectively from a year ago.

Production channel

Broker channel issuance was $12.7BN (17.5%) in April, up 1.8% on last month, with 120 lenders delivering loans. Correspondent channel issuance was $22.8BN (32.8%), down 1.9% from the prior month, from 186 lenders. Retail issuance was $42.6BN (54.5%), up 17.5% from March, from 1,209 lenders.

For inspection based appraisal waivers in April, broker volume was $509MM (27.5%) up 7.4% from 41 sellers. The correspondent channel was $355MM (19.2%) up 13.2% from the prior month in the overall volume, from 43 aggregators. Retail channel utilization of inspection-based waivers was $990M (53.4%) of issuance, up 22.8% from 218 lenders.

Loan Purpose

Purchase volume using inspection based appraisal waivers in April was $1.0BN (54.3%), up 15.3% from March, and up 71.7% from last year. Refinance (cash out) volume using inspection based appraisal waivers in April was $263M (14.2%) up 34.8% from March, and up 6.2% from last year. Refinance (limited or no cash out) volume using inspection based appraisal waivers in April was $590M (31.8%) up 11.2% from March, and up 193.5% from last year.

More about inspection based waivers in April