UAD 3.6: What the Shift Means and How AAG Is Prepared

The change is already underway

For years, residential appraisals were built on fixed forms. The 1004. The 1073. The 1025. Each property type had its own template, and anything the form could not capture got pushed into a free-form comment addendum.

That era is ending.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, at the direction of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, are replacing every legacy form with one dynamic report. It is called the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report, or URAR, and it runs on an updated dataset known as UAD 3.6.

This is not simply a cosmetic update. It is a structural rebuild of how appraisal data is captured, delivered, and reviewed.

What the shift actually means

The old forms were rigid. You fit the property into the template, whether it belonged there or not.

The new URAR works the other way around. It is data-driven and dynamic. The report expands or contracts based on the property and the type of inspection. One flexible report now covers all property types, from a straightforward single-family home to a complex multi-unit or manufactured property.

A few things change in practice:

• One report, not many forms. The URAR replaces the 1004, 1073, 1025, and the rest with a single structured report.

• Structured data over free-form narrative. Information that used to live in comment addenda now lives in defined, standardized fields. So every report of a certain kind will contain the same prepopulated information that the appraiser will pick from.

• Alignment with MISMO 3.6. The dataset now matches the current mortgage industry data standard, so appraisal data moves cleanly through the system.

• Fewer revisions, cleaner review. Consistent fields mean fewer gaps, fewer misreads, and fewer trips back to the appraiser.

For everyone who orders, reviews, or relies on an appraisal, the format they have known for years is being retired.

Why the industry is making the change

The legacy forms served their purpose. But they had a real limitation. Anything the form did not have a field for ended up as unstructured commentary. That made data inconsistent, harder to review, and harder to trust at scale.

UAD 3.6 fixes that at the root.

The goal is a reporting structure that captures property and market information the same way every time. Standardized data is easier to validate, easier to analyze, and easier to defend. It reduces the back and forth that slows deals down. And it gives lenders and their partners a cleaner, more transparent view of the collateral behind every loan.

The timeline is already in motion. UAD 3.6 entered broad production on January 26, 2026, which means lenders can submit the new reports today. The mandate takes full effect on November 2, 2026. After that date, every appraisal delivered to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must use UAD 3.6. During the current transition, both the legacy format and the new format are accepted, so each assignment needs to specify which one applies.

November 2026 is not the start date. It is the deadline. The firms treating it that way are already behind.

Why AAG is prepared

A change this size rewards the prepared and punishes the passive. We built AAG for exactly this kind of moment.

Here is why we are ready.

We know the report because we come from the work. AAG is appraiser-led. We understand the URAR from the inside, not as a policy memo but as the report itself. When the structure of a report changes, we know what actually changes for the appraiser sitting in front of it.

Our panel is vetted, not spun in. We do not assign files by rotation and hope for the best. Every assignment goes to an appraiser chosen for the property and the market. As UAD 3.6 rolls out, that matters more, not less. The appraisers completing your reports are the ones equipped to complete them correctly in the new format.

Defensibility is already how we work. The whole point of UAD 3.6 is cleaner, more consistent, more reviewable data. That has always been our standard. Structured reporting is not a scramble for us. It is a formalization of the discipline we already bring to every file.

We set expectations and communicate through the transition. A format change creates uncertainty, and uncertainty is where deals stall. We tell clients which version applies, what to expect, and where their file stands. No guessing. No silence. No surprises when a report comes back.

The industry is moving from static forms to dynamic data. We are moving with it, and we started early.

What this means for you

If you are a lender, an attorney, or anyone who depends on appraisals, the practical takeaway is simple. The reports you receive are changing. The partner you order them through should already understand the change.

We do. Coast to coast, residential and commercial, we are ready for UAD 3.6 today, not in November.

📩 Have questions about how UAD 3.6 affects your next order? Talk to our team at aag-amc.com.