The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) have expanded the scope of public appraisal data for single-family mortgages insured by HUD's Federal Housing Administration (FHA). This initiative aims to ensure fairer home appraisals.
Previously, FHFA’s Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) included only appraisals of properties where loans were acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The new data includes FHA-insured loans, advancing efforts by the Interagency Task Force on Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE) to address appraisal bias.
Adrianne Todman, HUD Agency Head, stated, “Far too many families face unfair racial or ethnic bias when they get their home appraised. To truly eliminate this form of discrimination, we need accurate, up-to-date data on the appraisal market.” She emphasized collaboration with FHFA to provide comprehensive public data on home appraisals.
Sandra L. Thompson, FHFA Director, noted that “Publishing appraisal data that goes beyond loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac provides a more complete picture of home valuation trends and reinforces our commitment to accuracy, transparency, and fairness.” She added that access to FHA-insured loan data will aid in identifying potential inaccuracies or biases in the mortgage market.
The October 2024 release includes an annual appraisal-level Public Use File (PUF) for Enterprise-acquired single-family mortgages and a separate file for FHA-insured mortgages. These files contain selected data points from a 5 percent nationally representative random sample of appraisal records. Quarterly aggregate statistics are also provided along with online dashboards for user-friendly access.
The PUF for FHA-insured mortgages details approximately 266,000 single-family appraisals from 2017 through 2022. The Enterprises' PUF covers about 1.5 million appraisals from 2013 through 2022.
Aggregate Statistics files now summarize nearly 9 million single-family home appraisals conducted between early 2017 and mid-2024 submitted to FHA’s mortgage insurance program. In September, FHFA released similar aggregate data for Enterprises covering early 2013 through mid-2024.
This release includes information reported by appraisers in the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report (URAR).
