Documents released under a FOIA request indicated that the GSEs’ assessment of the new credit score requirements found that a single-bureau credit pull significantly underperformed both the tri-merge and bi-merge.

Pete Mills, a senior vice president at MBA, believes housing affordability initiatives are more likely to come from executive orders this year.

The president wants to address housing affordability but also wants home prices to remain high because it has made a lot of people wealthy.

In mid-December, MBA was projecting interest rates would hold at 6.4% throughout 2026. However, MBA now anticipates the average rate will be 6.1% in the first quarter and hold at that level through the year.

The trade group representing credit reporting agencies said MBA’s proposal to move to a single-bureau report is more about lowering costs for lenders than saving money for consumers.

President Trump’s directive to lower interest rates helped spur a tightening in mortgage spreads, but economists are skeptical of the long-term impact of the move involving GSE purchases of MBS.

President Trump’s announcement that the GSEs will buy $200 billion of agency MBS prompted mortgage spreads to tighten by about 20 basis points and some lenders to offer mortgages below 6.00%.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed industry speculation that President Trump directed the GSEs to purchase $200 billion in MBS to offset Federal Reserve policy.

FHFA Director Bill Pulte delivered on some of his touted plans during 2025, with many other efforts in limbo.

Housing experts expect the market to undergo a course correction after years of rapid home price increases.