New Appraisal Format Takes Effect: Loans Sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Must Use UAD 3.6, Legacy Format Retires in June 2027
Starting November 2, new appraisal reports submitted for conventional loans sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac must use the redesigned Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD 3.6) and its new Uniform Residential Appraisal Report. Coordinated with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the change is the first full redesign of U.S. residential appraisal reporting in more than a decade; the legacy format is known as UAD 2.6.
According to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a single dynamic report that adapts to the property type and assignment replaces the multiple fixed forms previously used for different property types. How a home is valued does not change; what changes is how the report is ordered, delivered and revised. The mandate follows the date a report is first submitted to the Uniform Collateral Data Portal (UCDP), not the loan application or appraisal effective date.
For lenders unable to finish the switch in time, Fannie Mae's Lender Letter LL-2026-08, issued September 30 in coordination with FHFA and Freddie Mac, offers a one-time temporary policy exception. Lenders that cannot meet the UAD 3.6 requirements by November 2 must request the exception; approved sellers may keep submitting UAD 2.6 reports from November 2, 2026 through May 19, 2027. Lenders that implement UAD 3.6 on time need take no action.
The exception tightens over time. During the reduced-functionality period from March 1 to May 19, 2027, UAD 2.6 reports will receive a Collateral Underwriter risk score of 999, and loans delivered with such reports will not be eligible for enforcement relief for breaches of certain representations and warranties related to the appraisal and property value. Fannie Mae encouraged lenders to implement UAD 3.6 before March 1, 2027 to avoid those effects.
Under the published schedule, from May 20 through June 27, 2027, appraisal reports submitted to Fannie Mae must use UAD 3.6, with UAD 2.6 accepted only for resubmission of previously submitted reports; new UAD 2.6 submissions will result in fatal edits in UCDP. Support for UAD 2.6 ends on June 28, 2027, when the legacy format will no longer be accepted.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：房利美（Fannie Mae）位于华盛顿的总部大楼（资料图）。ajay_suresh 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The Fannie Mae headquarters building in Washington (file photo). Photo by ajay_suresh, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
