The CEO of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) said Tuesday that the U.S. mortgage market is “spring-loaded” for a rebound and that his company is actively developing digital infrastructure to enable portable and assumable mortgages.
Speaking at the Goldman Sachs 2025 U.S. Financial Services Conference, Jeffrey Sprecher detailed how the mortgage technology giant has transitioned its clients to a subscription-based revenue model while preparing for a potential shift in housing policy. He noted that despite recent cyclical headwinds, the market is poised to “revert to a mean” resembling pre-COVID activity.
Sprecher described the current lending environment as “fundamentally different” from historical norms but expressed confidence in a return to stability. He cited conversations with industry leaders suggesting that a decline in mortgage rates below the 6% threshold could trigger a significant “physiological release” for homebuyers, causing a release of pent-up demand.
“The thing is spring-loaded for a surge in housing,” Sprecher said, noting that while the company feels good about its business positioning, the current macroeconomic environment remains challenging.
Addressing the Trump administration’s push for mortgage innovation, Sprecher confirmed that lenders are actively working with ICE on both “portable” mortgages, which allow a borrower to transfer their existing loan to a new property, and “assumable” mortgages, which allow a buyer to assume the seller’s existing loan on a property.
These structures were discussed in a post on X last month by Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who indicated that government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are exploring these options.
However, Sprecher highlighted the structural difficulties in implementing portable and assumable mortgages within the existing mortgage-backed securities (MBS) market, where investor rules and anonymity requirements create friction.
“Those things are very difficult to do right now because mortgages get sold into capital markets,” he said.
Sprecher argued that tokenization through blockchain technology offers a potential solution by maintaining the necessary data lineage without violating privacy or consumer protection laws.
“With a token, you could theoretically keep track of everything without necessarily giving up identity,” Sprecher said, noting that ICE is working to facilitate these loans while preserving the liquidity of the robust MBS market.
Beyond market structure, ICE is leveraging artificial intelligence to control costs. Sprecher mentioned how his company — which owns the New York Stock Exchange — is deploying tools to automate code writing and digitize paper-heavy mortgage workflows.
Toward that end, he joked with the host that soon AI might be conducting the very interview he was participating in.
