Insights from the 2026 ServiceLink State of Homebuying Report reveal how lenders can balance efficiency, technology and human connection to better serve today’s buyers.‍

The mortgage and housing markets continue to present complex challenges for both borrowers and lenders. Borrowers are navigating various market-related hurdles, while lenders are looking to meet – and exceed – their expectations throughout every stage of the process.

ServiceLink’s Dave Howard, EVP, origination services, recently sat down with Janet King of National Mortgage News to chat about findings from the 2026 ServiceLink State of Homebuying Report and how lenders can leverage this industry data to rethink the borrower experience.

Here are the top three takeaways from this conversation:

Reduce cycle times and improve the borrower experience

“With volumes being what they are, everyone in the lending community is looking to take costs out of the origination cycle and compress the timelines so that they can reduce the time it takes to get from application to origination and funding,” said Howard. “The key difference here now is that we have to look at doing that without sacrificing the borrower/member experience and keeping an eye on lender profitability.”

Howard explains that implementing digital mortgage technologies for back-end processes as well as consumer-facing solutions can help to deliver the transparency, speed, efficiency and flexibility that today’s borrowers are demanding.

Borrowers are willing to sacrifice

With elevated home prices and interest rates, many homebuyers are coming to terms with the fact that they might not get everything they want in their mortgage and in their property.  

“Some 21% said they had to make a sacrifice on the number of bedrooms that they wanted in the home,” said Howard.

In the conversation, Howard reveals other areas of compromise including borrowers having to tap into their 401(k) to fund their down payments. Ultimately though, the data suggests that borrowers are willing to make these temporary sacrifices for the long-term goal of homeownership.

Homebuyer stress drives desire for human guidance

While digital solutions are sought out, many buyers still face high levels of stress during the transaction and want to lean on the experts for one-to-one guidance.

“Despite industry efforts and focus on technology around enabling the process, there's still a personal element that's involved in this and that is a real challenge for lenders, loan officers and all participants in the ecosystems to understand that they need to cover off not just on the technology, but the personal aspect as well,” said Howard.

Report data reveals that borrowers seek out educational information and guidance on the mortgage process from their real estate agents, loan officers and friends and family – indicating that personal connection still has a place in this digital world.  

View the full conversation between Howard and King below and download the 2026 State of Homebuying Report here.

Conversation first appeared in National Mortgage News.

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