What USPAP asks of every appraiser

What is USPAP?

USPAP, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, is the set of ethical and performance standards the appraisal profession in the United States generally recognizes. The Appraisal Foundation, formed in 1987, publishes it, and Congress authorized it in 1989.

It covers several disciplines, including real estate, personal property, business valuation and mass appraisal. Its Appraisal Standards Board updates it as needed. The Foundation's USPAP page (checked September 2026) says the most recent edition took effect on January 1, 2024.

Who has to follow USPAP?

State licensed and state certified real property appraisers must follow USPAP when they appraise for federally related transactions. That covers most appraisals ordered for a mortgage.

Other appraisers can be bound to it by state law, by a professional membership, or by a client's contract. The Foundation also notes that federal financial regulators reference Standards 1 through 4 when they implement Title XI of FIRREA.

What does USPAP expect of an appraiser in practice?

It expects the appraiser to be impartial, competent, and able to show how the conclusion was reached. USPAP does this through a handful of rules plus a series of numbered standards.

• Ethics. The appraiser must work honestly and without bias, and must not let a predetermined result or the client's hopes decide the value.
• Competency. The appraiser needs the knowledge and experience for the property and market, or must take steps to gain it and disclose them.
• Scope of work. The appraiser decides what research and analysis the assignment needs, so the result is credible for its intended use.
• Record keeping. The appraiser keeps a workfile that supports the conclusions in the report.

Standards 1 and 2 cover how a real property appraisal is developed and reported. Standards 3 and 4 cover appraisal review, where one appraiser evaluates another's work.

Does USPAP tell an appraiser which report form to use?

No. The Appraisal Standards Board's position, as the Foundation explains it, is that the appraiser complies with USPAP, not the form. Lenders and agencies choose the forms, and appraisers often add pages to a form to meet USPAP's reporting requirements.

Clients can also ask for more than USPAP does. Fannie Mae's Selling Guide is one example. USPAP lets an appraiser without enough local experience accept an assignment if they take steps to become competent, but Fannie Mae does not allow that flexibility for loans it buys.

How does USPAP keep up with new tools?

It changes through public exposure drafts and board votes, and through guidance. On April 23, 2026, the Appraisal Standards Board adopted Advisory Opinion 41, which covers an appraiser's USPAP duties when using technology such as automated valuation models, statistical software and generative artificial intelligence.

Appraisers keep up through coursework. Everyone entering the profession completes the 15 hour National USPAP Course, and practicing appraisers take the 7 hour National USPAP Update Course once every two calendar years. You can read more about that path on our page about how someone becomes an appraiser.

How is USPAP different from lending rules on appraiser independence?

USPAP governs the appraiser's own conduct, while lending rules govern everyone around the appraiser. Federal Regulation Z, in section 1026.42, bars covered people in a home loan secured by the borrower's principal dwelling, such as lenders, brokers and real estate agents, from pressuring an appraiser toward a value.

Both point the same direction. The appraiser owes the client a careful, unbiased opinion, and nobody in the deal is supposed to lean on it.