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Some banks are using artificial intelligence to make the home buying experience smoother for consumers and potentially reduce the volatility in staffing mortgage operations.
As low demand for residential mortgages persists, now could be the perfect time to revamp operations.
Mortgage originations totaled 907,000 in the first quarter of 2025, according to the latest available data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency. That’s down from 3.8 million originations recorded in the first quarter of 2021, when low interest rates contributed to incredible demand. In early 2026, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was still more than 6%, compared with the sub-3% rates seen during the Covid-19 pandemic.
This slow period, when staff members aren’t hustling to help as many homebuyers as possible, offers banks a chance to review their mortgage operations and determine if the process can be improved. That could make it a good time for executives to get employees on board. “There is more time to invest in that change management,” says John Whipple, head of product at Blend, a digital loan origination platform.
Ever-evolving technology, including artificial intelligence, is being used to make the mortgage business more efficient and potentially reduce the volatile nature of staffing those departments. There is also the opportunity to make the experience of buying a home less stressful.
“Mortgages are a super dynamic space,” Whipple says. “The pace of change is unprecedented.”
To learn more about improving the efficiency of this business line, download the report, sponsored by Blend, here.
