Special Topics

In our Special Topics series, we look closely at data collected through our National Housing Survey^®, Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey^®, and customized research to explore specific trends, challenges, and opportunities facing consumers and mortgage lenders in today's housing market.

COVID-19: The Need for Consumer Outreach and Home Purchase/Financing Digitization​
August 12, 2020​
The upheaval to daily life resulting from COVID-19 has been felt by virtually everyone in our society. Many have experienced financial distress and the upending of their education, career, retirement, or other life plans. Through our National Housing Survey®, we sought to identify and track shifts in consumers' short-, medium-, and long-term financial and housing needs and actions in the wake of the pandemic's onset.
Read More

Lenders describe COVID-19-related challenges and business priorities
June 29, 2020
The COVID-19 outbreak and associated public health response has had a particularly negative impact on consumer-facing businesses.
Read More 

Impact of Digital Innovation on Lender Workforce, Now and Looking Forward
May 13, 2020
According to Fannie Mae's Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey, which surveyed nearly 200 senior executives in the first quarter, lenders who invested "a great deal of effort" in digital transformation reported more benefits, including an uptick in productivity, compared to other lenders.
Read more

Mortgage Lenders Weigh in on Customer Acquisition and Retention Strategies, Now and Looking Forward
February 4, 2020
Fannie Mae's Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey (MLSS) captured feedback from nearly 200 senior mortgage executives to learn about how they plan to respond to challenges associated with their current and future customer-retention and customer-acquisition strategies.
Read more

Lenders Share Experiences with Front-End and Back-End Digital Transformation Investment
October 16, 2019
When investing in digital transformation, more lenders say they focus on improving the front-end consumer experience than back-end operational efficiency, according to Fannie Mae's Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey (MLSS). Additionally, lenders reported a higher success rate with front-end digital transformation efforts than back-end efforts.
Read more

Shopping Around for a Mortgage Pays Off for Consumers
August 5, 2019
Despite the sizable potential cost savings, more than one-third of 2018 homebuyers say they did not shop around before selecting their mortgage lender, according to our latest findings from the National Housing Survey. The good news is that two-thirds of homebuyers did comparison shop and, in turn, said they experienced more financially favorable terms than those who didn't obtain multiple quotes.
Read more

Technological Investment Necessary in Evolving Mortgage Landscape, Lenders Say
July 18, 2019
Mortgage lenders continue to cite “consumer-facing technology” as the most important business priority to maintain competitiveness, according to Fannie Mae’s Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey (MLSS). Additionally, most lenders consider “online business-to-consumer lenders” as their biggest competitor, citing their advantages in technology.
Read more

Consumers Continue to Overestimate Mortgage Requirements
June 5, 2019
We’ve seen consistently in Fannie Mae's National Housing Survey that the vast majority of Americans prefer homeownership over renting a home. Despite increased exposure to credit scores and online resources, consumer understanding about what it takes to qualify for a mortgage has not improved since our original study in 2015, potentially discouraging willing and qualified Americans from taking steps toward homeownership.
Read more