Episode summary
Freddie Mac’s Jodi Eberhardt on more efficient mortgage origination
HousingWire Daily
· · Hosts: Sarah Wheeler · Guests: Jodi Eberhardt
Summary
Freddie Mac’s Jodi Eberhardt said the company’s cost-to-originate study shows mortgage lenders have improved profitability, but costs remain elevated. In the latest refresh, retail lenders posted pre-tax net income per loan of $900, the highest since 2021, while average production cost in Q2 2025 was about $11,800 and still roughly 2% above 2023 levels. She said labor, compliance, fragmented tech, and volume swings continue to pressure margins, even as recent rate changes have helped spur some purchase and refinance activity.
Eberhardt argued that the most efficient lenders are those that use technology to scale, redesign workflow, and drive adoption among staff and borrowers. She said lenders using Freddie Mac’s digital tools on a majority of loans save about $1,700 per loan, shorten production by 5 days, and generate about $6.6 million in revenue gains. Top performers are also about 50% more cost-efficient than two years ago, widening the gap versus other lenders.
She also emphasized borrower-facing benefits: appraisal waivers and property data reports can cut $400 to $600 in closing costs, while Freddie Mac’s tools support rent-history analysis and alternative income verification. On risk, she said lenders using digital tools on most of their business have 40% fewer defects, and AIM users on more than 30% of sold loans see a 50% lift in not acceptable loan quality.
Key takeaways
- Jodi Eberhardt said Freddie Mac’s latest study found pre-tax net income per loan rose to $900, even as average mortgage production costs stayed around $11,800 in Q2 2025.
- She said labor, compliance, fragmented technology, and volume volatility remain the biggest cost pressures for retail lenders.
- Lenders using Freddie Mac’s digital offerings on most loans save about $1,700 per loan, cut cycle time by 5 days, and add about $6.6 million in revenue gains.
- Top-performing lenders are about 50% more cost-efficient than they were two years ago, widening the gap in the market.
- Eberhardt said appraisal waivers and related collateral tools can save borrowers $400 to $600 in closing costs and help lenders manage capacity during volume spikes.
- She said lenders using Freddie Mac’s digital tools on a majority of business have 40% fewer defects and better loan-quality outcomes.
Notable quotes
“the good news is that's the highest it's been since 2021. So, that's great. Uh but production costs still remain a persistent challenge”
“the average cost to produce a mortgage in Q2 2025 was approximately $11,800”
“the top performing lenders are more costefficient than they were 2 years ago. So, their loan costs run on average 50% lower”
“that saves the borrowers $400 to $600 alone. So that's a a big deal in terms of real out-of- pocket fees”
“lenders that use our digital tools on a majority of their business, they have 40% fewer defects”
How the episode opens
Welcome everyone. My guest today for this sponsored episode is Jod Eerheart, senior director at Freddy Mack to talk about Freddy's cost to originate study and what it reveals about the operations of the most efficient lenders. Jody, welcome to the podcast.
Good morning, Sarah. How are you? — I am great. So good to have you on here. I'm really excited. And before we start on my official questions, I I really want to dig into like your role at Freddy Mack because I think it's really interesting would be interesting for lenders to understand what it is that you do there. Maybe tell us a little bit about um why you're there, what you're doing.
Awesome. Yes. So, I work in a bigger department called seller engagement and you know what really makes that team effective is our highly collaborative service model with our lenders.
So we have these small teams that comprised of sales and technology um and experts that really help our lenders um well find opportunities with Freddy Mack and reduce their costs and and really provide support when they run into problems. the um my specific team is I have a really small team of consultants and we're called the trusted advisor team and we are um really here to help because Freddy Mack launched all these great tools to help lenders be more efficient and a lot of them like rolled out the tech but then they really haven't optimized the process or properly configured their systems to leverage all of our digital offerings. Um, so my team consults with lenders on an individual basis and we help them like take a look at their metrics, we look at their processes and we look at their systems and we help them create a roadmap for for them really to um take advantage of everything we have to offer and then in turn reduce our their cost to originate.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- mortgage origination costs
- technology for efficiency
- seller strategy
- collaboration
- mortgage origination
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Freddie Mac
Watch the episode
Watch “Freddie Mac’s Jodi Eberhardt on more efficient mortgage origination” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
More from HousingWire Daily
-
Has housing demand already changed with lower rates? -
How midterms and jobs week will affect rates -
Preparing for Q1 growth in reverse mortgages -
A clear pathway to sub-7% mortgage rates for Thanksgiving? -
Mortgage rates, inflation and those homeowner vacancy numbers -
What did the Fed meeting mean for mortgage rates?
HousingWire Daily, this episode and its artwork belong to HousingWire. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
