Weekly Real Estate News
Summary
FHA is testing UAD 3.6 appraisal submissions in Beta through its Electronic Appraisal Delivery system while non-Beta mortgagees remain on UAD 2.6. The controlled rollout comes as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, already in broad production, approach their Nov. 2 UAD 3.6 mandate.
The Federal Housing Administration is now testing the mortgage industry’s redesigned appraisal-data standard in its production environment, putting FHA lenders into the next phase of a transition that is already much further along at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
FHA’s Electronic Appraisal Delivery portal says UAD 3.6 is currently in Beta and warns participating mortgagees that submissions may be subject to processing delays. For lenders outside the Beta, FHA’s instruction is explicit: continue using UAD 2.6 until the agency announces general availability.
That distinction matters. FHA has not opened UAD 3.6 to every approved lender, and it has not announced a mandatory-use date. The agency is nevertheless processing the new format for Beta participants, and its FHA Connection documentation now includes workflows for UAD 3.6 appraisal logging.
The result is an unusual split in the industry’s appraisal conversion. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac entered broad production in January and are approaching a Nov. 2 mandate, subject to newly announced temporary exceptions for lenders that need more time. FHA is adopting the same modernized dataset but remains in a controlled Beta.
What FHA is testing
UAD 3.6 is the modernized Uniform Appraisal Dataset developed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. FHA says it is adopting the GSEs’ format to align appraisal reporting and data collection with current Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization data standards.
The change is larger than a revision to an appraisal form.
Under UAD 3.6, the new Uniform Residential Appraisal Report, or URAR, replaces the collection of legacy GSE appraisal forms associated with UAD 2.6 with a single data-driven report designed to adapt to different residential property types.
FHA’s current EAD guidance says the portal will support both UAD 2.6 and UAD 3.6 during the transition until the older standard is retired. The agency has also published an implementation-preparedness toolbox with technical documentation, EAD guidance and transition resources.
For Beta participants, there is an important pipeline rule. FHA says that once an appraisal is submitted for a case number in UAD 3.6, all subsequent submissions for that case must remain in the UAD 3.6 MISMO format.
FHA Connection’s current help documentation also shows how UAD 3.6 submissions flow into Appraisal Logging. Information delivered through EAD pre-populates FHA’s appraisal record, but the lender must still review and process the information before it is saved to HUD’s Computerized Homes Underwriting Management System.
Fannie and Freddie are already in broad production
The conventional market provides a useful comparison because the GSE rollout is several steps ahead.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac began broad production Jan. 26, allowing all lenders to submit UAD 3.6 appraisal reports through the Uniform Collateral Data Portal without prior GSE approval. Their formal mandate remains Nov. 2.
On Sept. 30, however, the GSEs created a temporary policy exception for lenders that cannot complete implementation by that date. WRE News reported that approved Fannie Mae sellers receiving an exception can continue submitting UAD 2.6 reports into 2027, although reduced collateral-risk functionality and representation-and-warranty consequences begin March 1.
Fannie Mae’s Sept. 30 announcement and Freddie Mac’s current implementation guidance make clear that the exception does not cancel the UAD 3.6 transition. It gives approved lenders additional time to finish it.
That puts mortgage companies operating across conventional and FHA channels in different stages of the same appraisal modernization effort. A lender may be submitting UAD 3.6 broadly to the GSEs while remaining on UAD 2.6 for FHA cases unless it is participating in FHA’s Beta.
Why the transition reaches beyond appraisers
The new standard changes how appraisal information is created, packaged, transmitted and evaluated. That means implementation touches lenders, appraisal management companies, appraisers, loan-origination systems, appraisal software providers and other technology vendors.
For UAD 3.6 submissions to the GSEs, the Uniform Collateral Data Portal accepts a ZIP package containing the UAD 3.6 XML file, a PDF of the URAR and an image folder. The legacy UAD 2.6 submission uses an XML file with an embedded PDF.
The redesigned data structure also allows appraisal information to be handled more systematically than the static forms it replaces. That is one reason the industry transition has required years of technical specifications, testing, vendor development and lender preparation.
WRE previously covered one part of that readiness effort when Aivre received UAD 3.6 verification from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
What FHA lenders should watch next
FHA’s Beta is significant because it moves the agency beyond planning documents and into live implementation with participating mortgagees. It should not be confused with general availability.
FHA’s current instruction for non-Beta lenders remains to use UAD 2.6. The agency has not published the date when every FHA-approved mortgagee will be allowed to submit UAD 3.6, nor has it announced when the new format will become mandatory for FHA appraisal submissions.
Those are now the two dates the FHA market needs most.
Until they arrive, lenders working across FHA and conventional channels will have to manage two implementation calendars: a GSE transition that reaches its Nov. 2 mandate in a month, and an FHA transition that has reached Beta but not yet general availability.
