Freddie Mac

Equifax is facing fresh competitive pressure as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac move to include VantageScore in mortgage underwriting in 2026, with the Federal Housing Finance Agency directing the two government-sponsored enterprises to use a single pricing grid that applies to both VantageScore and FICO models. Major originators such as Rocket Mortgage are preparing to adopt the dual-score framework, reshaping demand for traditional mortgage credit reports. The shift could alter Equifax's mortgage fee mix and volumes, particularly if the FHFA leans into bi-merge or single-bureau files, which would pressure the volume of full three-bureau reports Equifax sells into that channel and tighten pricing. Equifax, a roughly $16.1b professional services group, would then need higher-margin areas such as The Work Number, government verification contracts and AI-driven productivity gains to carry more of the earnings load. The key markers ahead are how quickly lenders such as Rocket Mortgage shift actual pull volumes toward VantageScore and whether the FHFA finalises bi-merge or single-bureau rules that reduce report count per loan, with concrete disclosures from Equifax on mortgage segment volumes and pricing as the 2026 transition date approaches showing how much revenue mix is at stake.

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage came in at 7.28% this week, up from 7.03% the previous week, according to data released on the first by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, Freddie Mac, reaching its highest level in about three years. The weekly increase was the largest in roughly four years. The surge in Treasury yields is behind the move, adding further headwinds for would-be homebuyers. Mortgage rates track closely with the US 10-year Treasury yield, which this week reached its highest level in nearly a quarter of a century. Mortgage rates published by the Mortgage Bankers Association on September 30 showed a similar trend, and also indicated that mortgage applications fell again in response to higher rates. The rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage has risen by more than 1.2 percentage points over the seven months since the United States and Israel began strikes on Iran. Bob Broeksmit, president and chief executive officer of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said in a statement that mortgage rates have risen for six straight weeks and reached their highest level in about three years, adding that home affordability and borrower demand have weakened in recent weeks as the high-rate environment continues to squeeze both prospective buyers and homeowners considering refinancing.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is planning to instruct mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to require lenders to use credit data from two major credit reporting bureaus instead of three, according to a media report on Thursday. The new requirement could be unveiled by FHFA Director Bill Pulte as soon as Oct. 12, when he is scheduled to speak at a mortgage industry conference, Bloomberg News reported, citing a person familiar with the plans. Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian Plc are the dominant credit reporting firms, and loans sold to Fannie and Freddie are currently required to include a tri-merge report combining data from all three companies. Shares in Fair Isaac, which creates tri-merge reports, dropped 7.0% in Thursday after-hours trading, while TransUnion slid 4.2% and Equifax slipped 3.7%. Last month, Pulte said he was considering a bi-merge requirement as part of the Trump administration's efforts to lower closing costs and make homeownership more affordable, and the new requirement is expected to take effect within one to three months of the announcement.

Nike is set to report its first quarter earnings on Thursday amid low investor sentiment, with shares trading near their lowest level since 2014. Analysts will be watching China sales and progress on the company's turnaround as it competes with rivals in running and with Lululemon. Also on deck is weekly mortgage data from Freddie Mac, with the current average on the 30-year fixed sitting above 7% as borrowing costs remain high for potential home buyers. Finally, weekly initial jobless claims data will give a fresh look at the labor market, with economists forecasting claims to tick up to 200,000 ahead of Friday's full jobs report.

Shares of Fair Isaac Corporation tumbled 8% after-hours Monday after the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced structural changes to mortgage pricing that will introduce direct competition to FICO's longstanding credit scoring monopoly. FHFA Director Bill Pulte said on X that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will consolidate their separate pricing matrices into a single, unified grid that will incorporate VantageScore, a competing credit model created by the three major credit bureaus, alongside the traditional FICO Classic score. Pulte said the change was driven by feedback from lenders and consumers, calling the previous two-grid structure a system that makes zero sense. The unified grid lets VantageScore share the exact same pricing structure as FICO, so lenders will soon be able to use a borrower's VantageScore to determine Loan-Level Price Adjustment fees and secure conventional loan approval, bypassing FICO entirely. Investors reacted sharply because the loss of exclusivity threatens FICO's primary leverage over the industry, which it has used in recent years to aggressively raise the fees it charges lenders for credit pulls. The FHFA has not yet specified a timeline for when the unified pricing grid will go live.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are tightening their standards for acceptable condo financing, changes that take effect between now and early 2027 and could further complicate an already struggling condo market. The mortgage giants, which support about 70% of the mortgage market, eliminated "limited reviews" last month in favor of closer reviews for all but the smallest buildings, and starting in January they will require condo associations to allocate at least 15% of their assessment income toward reserves, up from 10% today. The changes are part of an ongoing effort to improve condo safety after the deadly collapse of an aging building in Surfside, Fla., in 2021, but they add a new roadblock to a market already seeing slumping prices, growing supply, and buyer skepticism toward special assessments and monthly fees. Nationally, condo prices have fallen 2% from peak prices a few years earlier, according to Zillow data, with far steeper drops in some markets: Punta Gorda, Fla., is down 35% from its September 2022 peak, Tampa has seen a 24% decline, the median condo in Austin, Texas, is down 28%, and prices in Denver and Raleigh have fallen more than 16%. Condo sales were down 2.7% in August compared to a year earlier, according to National Association of Realtors data, while single-family home sales saw a smaller 1.1% drop, and nationwide condo supply sits at 6.6 months versus a more balanced 4.7 months for single-family homes. Agents and lenders told Yahoo Finance that the key for buyers and sellers is to learn about the HOA and gather necessary paperwork as early as possible, with Realtor Justyn LeFebvre of Christie's International Real Estate in Austin noting that the biggest bottleneck is the HOAs themselves producing these studies.

The Fed raised its policy rate by 0.25 points to 3.75–4.00%. The vote was unanimous at 12–0, and 16 of the 18 participants expect at least one more rate hike before the end of the year. Major U.S. banks have raised their prime rate from 6.75% to 7.00%, and the extra cost is already flowing through to credit cards and variable-rate business loans. Homeowners who locked in 30-year fixed mortgages at rates in the 2–3% range during the pandemic's low-rate era, however, will not see their payments rise right away, while those buying now face the 30-year fixed average of 6.76% that Freddie Mac reported as of September 10, 2026, widening the divide between generations. In San Francisco, two economies coexist: AI companies and those with stock-based compensation on one side, and early-stage startups funding themselves through loans along with restaurants, retailers and freelancers on the other. Higher rates are a headwind for Bitcoin on the liquidity front, but for stablecoin issuers that hold short-term U.S. Treasuries as reserve assets, they are a driver of expanding interest income.

The National Association of Realtors reported on the 17th that its pending home sales index for August rose 0.3% from the previous month to 71.2, an increase that defied economists' expectations of a 0.6% decline compiled by Reuters. On a year-over-year basis, the index fell 4.7%, with gains in the South and West offset by declines in the Northeast and Midwest. Mortgage rates that remain elevated are keeping would-be buyers out of the market, and this increase is likely to prove temporary. The Federal Reserve on the 16th moved to raise interest rates for the first time since July 2023, and according to Freddie Mac data, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 6.76% last week from 6.71% the week before, hitting its highest level in more than a year. Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, noted that nationwide, current contract signings are running about 30% below the levels seen in the years leading up to the pandemic.

The Commerce Department's Census Bureau reported on the 17th that August housing starts, on a seasonally adjusted basis, saw single-family homes, which account for the bulk of residential construction, rise 7.6% from the previous month to an annualized rate of 918,000, rebounding from July's more than three-and-a-half-year low. Compared with the same month a year earlier, single-family starts rose 5.2%. Meanwhile, single-family building permits fell 1.8% from the previous month to 878,000, but were up 1.3% year on year. Starts of the volatile multifamily segment of buildings with five or more units fell 22.5% to 344,000, and were down 15.5% year on year. Overall housing starts fell 2.6% to 1,275,000, and were down 1.2% year on year. Multifamily building permits fell 3.1% to 467,000, while overall building permits fell 2.7% to 1,394,000, though they were up 3.5% year on year. With conflict in the Middle East pushing crude oil prices above 100 dollars a barrel and driving up US long-term Treasury yields, mortgage rates have surged; according to data from the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, known as Freddie Mac, the average weekly rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage rose to 6.76% last week, the highest level in more than a year.

Compass CEO Robert Reffkin said 42% of U.S. homes on the market saw a price cut in September, the highest share in nearly a decade, warning that housing is no longer a single unified market. Speaking in a CNBC interview, Reffkin said sales of homes priced between $100,000 and $250,000 are down 10% while sales above $1 million are up 4%, a split he attributed to lower-end buyers' sensitivity to mortgage rates versus wealthier cash buyers benefiting from a strong stock market. He said supply is up 4% nationally and that mortgage rates are expected to reach 7% by year-end, which would bring inventory back to pre-pandemic levels. Overall transactions were down 2% month-over-month and down 1% year-over-year, while prices rose 1.6% year-over-year, which Reffkin called impressive given rates are 50 basis points higher than a year ago. Price cuts are most concentrated in Colorado and Texas, particularly Austin, while Chicago and New York see the fewest cuts due to low supply; the average 30-year fixed rate rose to 7.07% Thursday, its highest since May 2025, according to Mortgage News Daily, while Freddie Mac's weekly survey put the 30-year rate at 6.76%.

Bill Pulte, Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has instructed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to approve all lenders to use the VantageScore credit scoring system, ending Fair Isaac Corp.'s long-standing monopoly in mortgage credit scoring. Pulte announced the decision on X, citing the successful initial rollout of VantageScore, which enabled 50 lenders to deliver loans. He also accused FICO of raising the per-person cost of a credit score by 1,800% since 2020. In response, FICO stated it supports a competitive environment based on performance and analytics, highlighting its Score 10T as its most predictive credit score. FICO stock fell 2.14% in pre-market trading on Friday. Pulte separately criticized Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, the credit reporting agencies that own VantageScore, for overcharging Americans and hinted at considering bi-merge and stronger solutions. The directive follows a Senate investigation into FICO's pricing, and comes amid a housing market with record-low buyer activity and high mortgage rates.

Freddie Mac plans to report its Second Quarter 2026 financial results before the U.S. financial markets open on Thursday, July 30, 2026. The company will hold a webcast at 9 a.m. Eastern Time that same day to publicly share the results with the media, and a replay will be available on its website for approximately 30 days. All related materials will be posted on the Investor Relations page of Freddie Mac's website.

AD Mortgage has launched a new Public Policy Initiative to engage with policymakers on housing affordability and mortgage finance. As its first action, the wholesale lender submitted a policy letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency with market data and recommendations on upcoming changes to condominium project eligibility for loans purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The letter draws on proprietary lending data showing that more than 750 Florida condominium loans originated by AD Mortgage since 2021 used the Limited Review process, and 53% of its Florida conventional condominium originations in that period relied on Limited Review. The company also found that approximately 30% of manually reviewed condominium projects had reserve funding below the new 15% threshold under revised Enterprise guidelines. AD Mortgage plans to regularly engage with federal and state policymakers, publish research, and collaborate with industry organizations as part of the initiative.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have released expanded historical loan performance datasets for FICO Score 10T, a next-generation credit scoring model developed by Fair Isaac. The data covers real-world mortgage performance and is expected to help lenders test, validate, and potentially adopt the new scoring model over time. This development puts FICO Score 10T more squarely in focus for mortgage underwriting and securitization, with implications for risk models and consumer credit access.

Mortgage rates remained stable in the past few weeks as markets continued to assess the implications of recent Federal Reserve policy decisions. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.49% as of June 25, up modestly from 6.47% last week and below 6.77% a year ago, according to the latest Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.84%, up from 5.81% a week ago and 5.89% a year ago. Freddie Mac's chief economist Sam Khater noted that rates have remained relatively stable over the last six weeks, with purchase activity easing modestly and refinance activity picking up. Mortgage Bankers Association CEO Bob Broeksmit said greater certainty around the interest rate outlook should help foster increased borrower confidence and support sustained housing market activity.

Bill Ackman has voluntarily disclosed eight of the twelve stocks held in his newly launched $5 billion closed-end fund Pershing Square USA, revealing concentrated bets on Amazon, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Uber Technologies, Brookfield, Restaurant Brands International, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. The fund, which began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on April 29, is the largest of its kind ever launched in the United States and charges a 2% annual management fee with no performance fee. Ackman has described Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta as underappreciated mega-caps, with the Microsoft stake valued at $2.09 billion at the end of the first quarter based on 5.65 million shares. He also trimmed Alphabet in favor of Microsoft, signaling a deliberate reallocation within large-cap tech. The fund's shares have traded roughly 17% below the $50 IPO price, with a persistent discount to net asset value of about 20%, which Ackman called an extremely attractive bargain.