As we reflect on Freddie Mac’s 50 years of helping families and communities realize sustainable homeownership, we sat down with three experts to better understand the forces and trends that have shaped the mortgage industry throughout the years.

One change is consistent: Technology and innovation continue to pave the way forward.

Borrowers, homeowners, lenders and other housing and mortgage professionals have experienced significant change as the industry digitizes processes. We asked our experts what has changed or evolved the most in the industry over the years?

The value today is the scalability, which can come in the form of improved process flow, improved technology or improved data flow. The focus on affordability has been a constant in the past 50 years, but how that has been delivered has evolved.

For example, much of the affordability focus was on products. Now it’s less about products and more on education.

Also, in the past, public policy discussion had been around target homeownership rates. We don’t hear that anymore. Instead, we’re focused on sustainable homeownership; the ability to help people get into homes that they can keep matters a whole lot more today

The reliance on data and advanced analytics has been the greatest evolution in our industry. We’ve gone from initially using credit bureau data to now leveraging automated valuation models.

This change was driven in part by the need to use data and analytics to streamline mortgage processes, whether it’s automating the assessment of borrower assets or waiving the need for traditional appraisals by leveraging models with historical data and public records.

Data and technology, the speed of information, and the demands relative to that information, are probably the most evolutionary over the span of my career.

Given the environment that we’re in, that speed of change is going to accelerate. We’re seeing the capabilities of it and the benefits from it. We all want things faster, sooner and with more data around it. The blend of technology, more focused communication and a heightened understanding of the housing market are benefiting potential and existing homeowners.