Weekly Real Estate News
Summary
FHA has opened optional UAD 3.6 production to approved Title II forward and HECM lenders after completing controlled beta testing. UAD 2.6 remains available during the transition, but each FHA case must stay in the appraisal format used for its initial submission. FHA has not announced a mandatory UAD 3.6 date.
The Federal Housing Administration has opened its modernized UAD 3.6 appraisal process to approved lenders, moving the agency beyond the controlled beta that had limited use of the new format.
FHA-approved lenders participating in Title II forward mortgage and Home Equity Conversion Mortgage programs may now begin submitting UAD 3.6 appraisals through the Electronic Appraisal Delivery portal during an optional production period. FHA is continuing to accept legacy UAD 2.6 appraisals during the transition.
The change is significant because it removes the restriction WRE News reported earlier Thursday. At that point, FHA’s published implementation posture kept mortgagees outside the beta on UAD 2.6 until the agency announced broader availability.
HUD’s current EAD guidance now says the portal will support both UAD 2.6 and UAD 3.6 during the transition and provides implementation resources for the new format. FHA has not announced a date when UAD 3.6 will become mandatory.
One FHA case, one appraisal format
Lenders do not have to convert every FHA appraisal to UAD 3.6 immediately. During the optional period, they may continue delivering some or all appraisals using UAD 2.6.
There is an important case-level restriction: the appraisal format used for the initial submission on an FHA case must remain the format used for subsequent appraisal submissions on that case. A lender cannot begin a case in UAD 2.6 and later switch the same case to UAD 3.6, or vice versa.
FHA Connection is already equipped to process the new data. HUD’s UAD 3.6 Appraisal Logging guidance explains how appraisal information delivered through EAD flows into the agency’s Computerized Homes Underwriting Management System, or CHUMS. Mortgagees still must review and process that information in Appraisal Logging before it is saved to CHUMS.
FHA catches up to the industry’s broader rollout
UAD 3.6 replaces the collection of legacy appraisal forms with the redesigned Uniform Residential Appraisal Report and a more structured, data-driven appraisal framework. The standard was developed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and aligns with current Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization data standards.
The conventional market is further along. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac entered broad production in January, and their formal UAD 3.6 mandate remains Nov. 2. The GSEs recently created a temporary exception for approved sellers that cannot meet that deadline, allowing qualifying lenders additional time to continue using UAD 2.6.
FHA is following its own timetable. The agency’s decision to open optional production means lenders, appraisal management companies, appraisers and mortgage technology providers can begin moving FHA production onto the same modernized dataset already being implemented across the conventional market without waiting for an FHA mandate.
What remains unresolved is when that choice becomes a requirement. FHA has said it will establish and announce its mandatory transition separately. Until then, lenders can operate both formats across their FHA pipelines, subject to the rule that each individual case remains in the format in which it began.
