Fannie and Freddie will let more buyers off the hook for an appraisal

Appraisal waiver programs that rely on automated valuation models will be expanded next year to allow participation by homebuyers putting less than 20 percent down.

Case-Shiller is a go-to source for prices — but know these blind spots

Repeat-sales models have been the gold standard in home-price tracking for decades. Intel examines what they miss, and what some data providers are doing to fill in the gaps.

New credit scores from FICO, VantageScore gaining traction

Lenders won’t be required to use the more inclusive FICO Score 10T and VantageScore 4.0 scoring models before next year, but several are already using them to expand the pool of borrowers.