For mortgage pros, these next 12 months may prove the most transformative—technology-wise—in our industry's history.

That's not hyperbole. It's an unavoidable truth. AI is advancing technology and development so fast that the 1996–1999 internet frenzy feels unambitious by comparison.

As a result, some of the most tedious gears in the lending machine will speed up this year, including mortgage research, app completion, doc processing, and approvals.

That last one is a true disruptor because one thing literally every mortgage shopper wants is immediate approval. In 2026, a small but growing group of lenders will give them precisely that.

Countless lenders are now racing to install or fine-tune AI underwriting systems. They know that by year-end, pieces of code will routinely decide borrowers' financial worthiness in the time it takes to blink—at least on the prime side.

In 2025, fixed mortgage rates dropped anywhere from 30 bps on the five-year fixed to 115 bps on the one-year fixed. And given how a key fixed-rate indicator closed out the year, one might say we were lucky to get that savings.

The Fed’s latest minutes, which Scotiabank says are "as stale as three-day-old turkey stuffing," were consistent with lower rates in 2026. And typically, the lower Fed funds go, the harder it is for the Bank of Canada to hike rates OTBE.

But the meeting summary also revealed significant uncertainty. Some Fed officials expressed a preference to keep the target range "unchanged for some time."

Bond market volumes are expected to be thin for the final three trading days of 2025. With little on tap until Wednesday's U.S. jobless claims, yields are guided more by things like portfolio rebalancing and geopolitical headlines.

Every quarter, Wowa.ca puts out some solid research called the Canadian Lenders Report (details).

We just saw its latest version and some interesting nuggets stood out. We're talking the kind that mortgage brokers can casually drop into the conversation when pitching their services.

Last week's holiday-shortened trading session felt like an exercise in medical sedation. Market rates quietly glided lower, and—barring any bombshells out of Washington or abroad—this week may be more of the same.

The action isn't expected to heat up until the first week of January, when dual jobs reports should jolt traders awake.

This is Part II of MLN's one-on-one conversation with HomeEquity Bank (HEB) SVP Rene Quercia.

In this final installment, Rene zeroes in on six subjects mortgage brokers should find helpful:

• A new reverse mortgage product in development
• HEB's policy on renewal pricing
• Whether HESAs are a competitive threat
• Channel pricing parity
• Reverse mortgage tax and portfolio preservation strategies
• His top 3 reverse mortgage growth strategies for brokers

Some of the strategies in this video are proven, practical, and repeatable business generators — please enjoy.

At Christmas, the world seems to decelerate just enough for us to notice what’s always been there: kindness, generosity, and warm, friendly cheer. For one day, the usual stresses—deadlines, worries, contentions—step aside, and we’re reminded that goodwill is not rare, just sometimes overlooked.

Christmas has a way of drawing the best out of people. So, from all of us at MLN, we hope this pause brings you a sense of joy and perspective, and that this warmheartedness carries forward long after the day itself has passed.

Merry Christmas and the very happiest of holidays,

Rob & the Team
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