Inspection Based Waivers In January – Now $1.7BN

For January 2026, GSE issuance totaled $72.8BN, up marginally from December, and up 22.8% from January 2025. For property valuations, $55.2BN (75.8%) closed using appraisals, up 1.8%, and $15.9BN (21.8%) closed utilizing appraisal waivers, up marginally from the prior month.

Lenders delivered $1.70BN (2.34%) with inspection based appraisal waivers in January, up 9.0% from December, and up 97.0% from a year ago. This is the 10th 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 January were 9.7% of the combined non-appraisal solutions by loan balance. By loan count, inspection-based waivers represented 10.5% of all waiver solutions.

Combined use of inspection based waivers and appraisal waivers in January was 24.2% by balance and 21.4% by loan count.

Agency share of appraisal waivers in January

Fannie Mae Valuation Acceptance + Property Data market share of inspection based waivers in January was 60.3% on volume of $1,025M, up 14.3% from December. There are 468 lenders who have delivered loans through Fannie Mae Valuation Acceptance + Property Data, including 250 independent mortgage companies and 132 banks and 89 credit unions. A total of 169 lenders issued loans using inspection based appraisal waivers in January with Valuation Acceptance + Property Data, up 9.7% from December, and up 152.4% from the prior year.

Freddie Mac ACE+ PDR (Automated Collateral Evaluation plus Property Data Report) market share for inspection based waivers in January was 39.7% on volume of $675MM, up 1.8% from December. Freddie Mac participation is at 507 lenders, including 200 banks, 44 credit unions, and 264 non-banks. A total of 140 individual lenders issued loans using inspection based waivers with ACE+ PDR, up 15.7% from December, and down marginally from the prior year.

Bank, Credit Union & Nonbank appraisal alternatives

For bank sellers, 71.9% have used appraisal waivers and 27.5% have used inspection based waivers to deliver loans to the GSEs in the past couple of years. In January 51.4% used appraisal waivers and 9.2% used inspection based waivers.

For credit union sellers, 76.2% have used appraisal waivers and 26.4% have used inspection based waivers to deliver loans to the GSEs, again since 2023. In January 57.3% used appraisal waivers and 10.1% used inspection based waivers.

For nonbank sellers, 80.3% have used appraisal waivers and 47.5% have used inspection based waivers to deliver loans to the GSEs. In January 77.9% used appraisal waivers and 31.0% used inspection based appraisal waivers.

Production channel

Broker channel issuance was $12.8BN (17.6%) in January, up 11.3% on last month, with 131 lenders delivering loans. Correspondent channel issuance was $22.9BN (31.4%), down 15.8% from the prior month, from 191 lenders. Retail issuance was $37.1BN (51.0%), up 10.6% from December, from 1,232 lenders.

For inspection based appraisal waivers in January, broker volume was $554M (32.6%) up 14.8% from 34 sellers. The correspondent channel was $300MM (17.7%) down 7.5% from the prior month in the overall volume, from 39 aggregators. Retail channel utilization of inspection-based waivers was $846M (49.8%) of issuance, up 12.8% from 187 lenders.

Loan Purpose

Purchase volume using inspection based appraisal waivers in January was $1,069M (62.9%), up 11.3% from December, and up 130.9% from last year. Refinance (cash out) volume using inspection based appraisal waivers in January was $230M (13.5%) up 28.5% from December, and down 3.3% from last year. Refinance (limited or no cash out) volume using inspection based appraisal waivers in January was $402M (23.6%) down 4.7% from December, and up 146.2% from last year.

More about inspection based waivers in January