U.S. Mortgage Insurers: FHFA's Announcement Regarding New Uniform Appraisal Dataset Appraisal-Level Public Use File

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 -- The U.S. Mortgage Insurers issued the following statement on Oct. 16, 2023:

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U.S. Mortgage Insurers (USMI), the association representing the nation's leading private mortgage insurance (MI) companies, today issued the following statement on the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) publication of the New Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) Appraisal-Level Public Use File (PUF) (UAD Appraisal-Level PUF):

"USMI commends FHFA and Director Thompson's commitment to improving data transparency in the housing finance system. Through the UAD Appraisal-Level PUF, market participants will have greater insight into the government-sponsored enterprises' (GSEs) valuation data and trends to better assist individual mortgage transactions and guide initiatives to promote affordable and sustainable homeownership.

"Continued data transparency and an emphasis on accurate home valuations like we see today will help improve operations of market participants, inform risk management procedures and consumer preferences, measure and promote fair lending, and address housing market disparities and inequities - key factors to maintaining a strong and healthy housing finance system. USMI's members look forward to continued partnership with FHFA, the GSEs, and other industry stakeholders to responsibly and sustainably expand access to homeownership."

USMI encouraged FHFA to implement "data democratization" in its response to the agency's request for information (RFI) on appraisals submitted in February 2021, and in its response to the interagency Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) on "Quality Control Standards for Automated Valuation Models."

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Original text here: https://www.usmi.org/statement-fhfas-announcement-regarding-new-uniform-appraisal-dataset-appraisal-level-public-use-file/