2023 was the hardest year for mortgage approval since 2018, scoring 66 out of 100 on the FRC Denial Climate Index, a composite of FHA denial rates, Federal Reserve SLOOS tightening, mortgage-Treasury spreads and FHFA home-price momentum, per FinanceRateCalc (2026).
Source: CFPB HMDA 2025 (1,217,297 decisioned FHA applications), processed by FinanceRateCalc · methodology · all statistics