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MortgagePoint » Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 76 December 2025 J O U R N A L STUDY: MORTGAGE SATISFACTION JUMPS AS ORIGINATORS EMBRACE HIGH- TOUCH, HYBRID SERVICE A fter a four-year decline, new mortgage origination volumes are now on the rise once more, and lenders have radically altered their customer service practices. The most recent J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study indicates that mortgage lenders have shifted from a transactional, volume-at-all-costs strat- egy to more consultative, advisory-style customer interactions. Significantly, greater customer satisfaction ratings, en- hanced trust, and higher levels of brand loyalty are the results of this change. "Mortgage lenders have come to recognize that the more educated their customers are about the details of their mortgage products, the more loyal and lucrative their relationships become," said Bruce Gehrke, Senior Director of wealth and lending intelligence at J.D. Power. "The highest-ranked lenders in today's market aren't just those with the best rates; they're the ones that have per- fected hybrid engagement. By blending high-touch advisor relationships with intelligent digital infrastructure, leading lenders are transforming what used to be a transactional, document-focused ordeal into a consultative partnership." Key Findings: • Overall satisfaction increases dramatically: On a 1,000-point scale, overall customer happiness with mortgage lenders is 760, up 33 points from a year ago, when it was declining. Mortgage lenders have made tremendous progress in the last year in terms of consumer communication, dependability, and accountability, as well as the use of cutting-edge technologies to interact with clients. • Lenders utilize an advisory-style approach to foster client loyalty: 79% of consumers give mortgage lenders high marks for offering helpful counsel or direction, up from 76% in 2024, 70% in 2023, and 69% in 2022. Furthermore, clients of mortgage lenders who score highly for providing helpful advice are 2.3 times more likely to state that they "definitely will" select the same lender for subsequent loans. • Higher satisfaction is a result of early engagement: When lenders engage with clients early in the home-buying process, before they begin actively looking, overall satis- faction is 32 points higher than when engagement starts later in the process. When lenders initially interact during the mortgage application process, satisfaction falls by 64 points. • Borrowers receptive to AI's par- ticipation in the lending process: Thirty-one percent of consumers say they are "partially comfortable" with their lenders employing AI in the mortgage origination process, while slightly more than half (54%) say they are "completely comfortable." Cus- tomers, however, also want to know how the technology is being utilized; according to 71% of respondents, it is "very important" that their lenders let them know when AI is being used. Overall, Citi ranks highest in mortgage origination satisfaction, with a score of 802. Bank of America (792) ranks second, and Citizens (787) ranks third. Note: The U.S. Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study measures overall customer satisfaction based on perfor- mance in six factors: 1. Communication 2. Digital channels 3. Level of trust 4. Loan offering meets my needs 5. Made it easy to do business with 6. People The 2025 study was fielded from September 2024 through September 2025 and is based on responses from 10,067 customers who originated a new mortgage or refinanced within the past 12 months. PROSPECTIVE HOMEBUYERS WAITING FOR LOWER RATES A ccording to a recent Redfin study, U.S. pending home sales were down 0.3% from a year earlier during the four weeks ending November 9. This is a slight decrease, but the first in four months. The selling of homes that remain on the market for a longer period: the median time it takes for a home to enter a contract is 49 days, which is the longest it has been since 2019. House hunters are hesitant because costs are high and the economy is uncertain: • The weekly average mortgage rate rose to 6.22% after dropping to a year-low of 6.17% a week earlier, after the Fed indicated it may not cut interest rates in December. • The median home-sale price increased 2.4% year over year, the biggest jump in six months. • Many would-be buyers are wary of purchasing a home while the U.S. economy feels unstable. More than 20% of Americans are delaying a major purchase like a home or car due to the government shutdown, and another 15% have canceled a major purchase altogether, per a recent Redfin survey. With hundreds of thousands more sellers than buyers in the market coun- trywide, the selling side is doing better. To draw in buyers, Redfin brokers advise sellers to set a reasonable price for their property from the outset. Similar to the rise Redfin has witnessed over the past month, new property listings are up 3.4% year over year.