By PYMNTS | October 20, 2026
The U.S. mortgage market has “weakened meaningfully” since July, though the rest of the U.S. market remains as healthy as it was, Equifax Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations Officer John Gamble said Tuesday (Oct. 20) during an earnings call.
“Mortgage market transaction volume began to decline later in August as interest rates started rising, with the decline accelerating as we moved through September, with 30-year mortgage rates reaching about 7.5% compared to 6.6% when we provided guidance in July,” Gamble said.
For Equifax, a provider of data, analytics and cloud technology, the decline in the mortgage market drove a $20 million decline in its U.S. mortgage revenue in the third quarter, compared to the company’s expectations in July, and an expected $60 million decline in the fourth quarter, compared to that earlier guidance, Gamble said.
We’d love to be your preferred source for news.
Please add us to your preferred sources list so our news, data and interviews show up in your feed. Thanks!
“As we look forward to 2027, using current mortgage market transaction levels across USIS [U.S. Information Solutions] and EWS [Equifax Workforce Solutions] and applying normal seasonal factors, 2027 mortgage market transactions, which we believe would be consistent with U.S. originations, would be down on average high-single-digit percent percentage in 2027 versus 2026, principally over the first eight months of the year,” Gamble said.
While the mortgage market has declined, the overall U.S. market conditions impacting Equifax’s other businesses remained relatively consistent with July, Gamble said.
“Low unemployment continues to support overall consumer financial health,” Gamble said. “As we have referenced previously, continued higher levels of inflation has disproportionately pressured the lower income and subprime consumer demographic, but the majority of consumers continue to be resilient, which is good for Equifax and our customers. We have also not seen financial institutions increase their portfolio management reviews or decrease consumer credit lines, which are actions they typically take when they anticipate an economic downturn.”
Equifax reported these trends after a third quarter in which the company’s reported revenue increased 10% to $1.693 billion, according to a Tuesday press release.
The company saw 15% growth in its U.S. Mortgage revenue, despite the weaker mortgage market.
Looking ahead, Equifax lowered its 2026 revenue guidance due to the weaker U.S. mortgage market. The company’s revenue guidance for the year is now a range of $6.646 billion to $6.676 billion, or between 9.4% and 9.9% higher than 2025, according to an earnings review presentation released Tuesday.