Inspection based waivers in December highlight 66% growth last year

Summary for full-year 2024

GSE issuance was $667BN in 2024, up 7.22% from $619BN in 2023. For property valuations in 2024, $566.8BN (85.0%) closed using appraisals, up 4.6%, and $89.7BN (13.5%) closed utilizing appraisal waivers, up 26.8% on the prior year. Lenders delivered $10.3BN (1.54%) with inspection based waivers in 2024, up 72.7% on 2023.

The picture is slightly different by total loan count: GSE issuance was 1.99M loans in 2024, up 2.41% from 1.95M in 2023. The number of appraisals in 2024 was 1.68M (83.6%) compared to 1.67MM (86.5%) in 2023, a drop of 1.0%. The number of appraisal waivers in 2024 was 287K (14.4%) compared to 239K (12.3%) in 2023, an increase of 20.0%. The number of inspection based appraisal waivers used by GSE sellers in 2024 was 40K (2.0%) compared to 24K (1.3%) in 2023, a jump of 66.4%.

For December 2024

For December 2024, GSE issuance totaled $53.4BN, down 22.8% on November, but up 15.9% on December 2023. For property valuations, $44.1BN (82.6%) closed using appraisals, down 20.1%, and $8.5BN (15.8%) closed utilizing appraisal waivers, down 31.6% on the prior month. Lenders delivered $832M (1.56%) with inspection based waivers in December, down 26.2% on November.

Overall, inspection based waivers in December were 9.2% of the combined appraisal waiver (non-appraisal) solutions by loan balance. By number of loans delivered, inspection-based waivers were 11.4% of all waiver solutions.

Combined use of inspection based waivers and appraisal waivers in December was 17.4% by balance and 19.6% by loan count.

Agency share of appraisal waivers in December

Fannie Mae Valuation Acceptance + Property Data market share of inspection based appraisal waivers in December was 67.3% on volume of $560MM, down 13.0% on November. There are 401 lenders who have delivered loans through Fannie Mae Valuation Acceptance + Property Data, including 216 independent mortgage companies and 114 banks and 72 credit unions. A total of 71 lenders issued loans using inspection based appraisal waivers in November with Valuation Acceptance + Property Data, up 2.9% on November.

Freddie Mac ACE+ PDR (Automated Collateral Evaluation plus Property Data Report) market share for inspection based appraisal waivers in December was 32.7% on lower volume of $272MM, down 43.6%. Freddie Mac participation is at 440 lenders, including 176 community banks, 33 credit unions, and 231 non-banks. A total of 122 individual lenders issued loans using inspection based waivers with ACE+ PDR, down 30.3% on the prior month.

Bank, credit union & nonbank using appraisal alternatives

For bank sellers in 2024, 69.0% have used appraisal waivers and 25.2% have used inspection based waivers to deliver loans to the GSEs. In December 40.5% used appraisal waivers and 9.0% used inspection based waivers.

For credit union sellers in 2024, 72.4% have used appraisal waivers and 23.4% have used inspection based waivers to deliver loans to the GSEs. In December 39.5% used appraisal waivers and 4.9% used inspection based waivers.

For nonbank sellers in 2024, 79.3% have used appraisal waivers and 45.3% have used inspection based waivers to deliver loans to the GSEs. In December 70.3% used appraisal waivers and 21.4% used inspection based waivers.

Production channel

Broker channel issuance was $7.7N in December with 111 lenders delivering loans. The correspondent channel issuance was $20.5N from 177 lenders and retail issuance was $25.2BN from 1,195 lenders.

For inspection based appraisal waivers in December, broker volume was $228M and 27.4% of loan delivered, down 37.6% from 20 lenders. The correspondent channel was down 15.0% to $106M and 12.8% of the overall volume from the prior month, from 28 aggregators. Retail channel utilization of inspection-based waivers was down 15.6% to $497M (59.8%) of issuance from 136 lenders.

More about inspection based waivers in December