In advance of United Wholesale Mortgage’s first-quarter earnings release on Tuesday, UWM CEO Mat Ishbia weighed in on housing affordability, the potential impact of tariffs and the state of mortgage originations in a video posted on the company’s YouTube channel.

Ishbia noted that while economic uncertainty has prevented equity investors from fleeing to the traditional safety net of Treasury bonds — which would have lowered bond yields, and by extension, mortgage rates —  he expects that once the Trump administration’s 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs is lifted, interest rates will come down.

“We do believe that overall, tariffs will be finalized and confirmed after all the delays and things that happened, and I actually think interest rates will go down because of it,” Ishbia said.

On the topic of housing affordability, Ishbia said he expects conditions to improve as interest rates ease.

“House values, they’re going up, they’re strong, they’re steady, but it’s not out of control,” Ishbia said. “There are some new indexes coming out that are actually (indicating) that affordability is going to be the best it’s been in years.”

Finally, Ishbia said that first-quarter mortgage originations were up 10% to 12% year over year, and he’s hearing from people in the mortgage industry that they expect more than a million more loans originated this year compared to 2024.

“The opportunity is out there,” Ishbia said. “Despite continued economic uncertainty and elevated interest rates, consumers are continuing to live their lives. People are buying homes, people are selling their homes, people are refinancing, people are looking for cash-outs. There is opportunity out there.”