The appraisal story is today's headline! Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac jointly announced a one-time UAD 3.6 policy exception for sellers that cannot meet the November 2 mandate. The mandate itself is not moving: a seller without an exception still has to submit UAD 3.6 appraisals starting November 2. A seller that requests and receives the exception — separately from each GSE it sells to — may keep submitting new UAD 2.6 appraisals to UCDP through May 19, 2027, and resubmit existing 2.6 reports through June 27, 2027. There is a catch in the middle: starting March 1, 2027, a UAD 2.6 appraisal gets a collateral risk score of 999 in Collateral Underwriter and 99 in Loan Collateral Advisor, and the loan loses collateral rep-and-warrant relief for value. The GSEs say plainly that this exception will not be extended. Lenders that do not sell directly to the GSEs do not file a request, but they do have to line up their plans with their investors, and an aggregator buying from TPOs has to either confirm every TPO is on 3.6 or request the exception itself.
Yesterday's softer core PCE (0.2% for August) did not buy the bond market much relief. The 10-year Treasury closed Wednesday at 5.29%, which Mortgage News Daily called another long-term high after a brief push past 5.30%, and it is trading right around that level this morning. Weekly jobless claims printed 197,000 against 198,000 the week before, so nothing in the labor data is pulling yields lower ahead of Friday's September jobs report.
Bankrate's 30-year fixed sits at 7.43% this morning, up 9 basis points from 7.34% yesterday, a new 90-day high, and up from 6.76% on September 1. The 15-year is at 6.76% and FHA 30-year at 7.17%, each up 6 basis points on the day. Freddie Mac's weekly PMMS read 7.03% last week, and its 30-day change on that survey is +0.37; the new PMMS lands today. The next scheduled catalysts are Friday's jobs report and the October 27–28 FOMC meeting, which does not carry a new dot plot. Realtor.com Economics adds useful context for rate conversations: across 1.35 million Freddie Mac loans, the middle 80% of borrowers in a single month received rates 93 basis points apart, which is a strong reminder that credit score, down payment and shopping still move the number a borrower actually gets.
On the program side, HUD's Section 184 upfront loan guarantee fee rises from 1.00% to 1.50% on firm commitments, including refinances, effective today, and the Skilled Workers Demonstration Program fee goes from 0% to 1.00%; the annual fee stays at zero. Fannie Mae retires the PDF versions of Form 482 (wire transfer instructions) and Form 360 (certificate of authority) on October 2, moving lenders to a self-service Form 482 application for payee codes. On the real estate side, Compass CEO Robert Reffkin set an October 6 deadline for MLSs to change listing rules and said antitrust suits could follow by mid-October; CRMLS rejected the demands and is launching an MLS Cooperation Legal Defense Fund.
ask your secondary or operations lead one question — has our shop or our investor requested the UAD 3.6 exception, and what format will our AMC deliver on November 2? If the answer is the exception, put March 1, 2027 on your pipeline calendar now, because that is the day a UAD 2.6 report stops earning rep-and-warrant relief for value.