Benchmark Summary

Rocket Mortgage led the Mortgage AI Market Discovery Index in August 2026 with valid recommendation coverage of 61.6%, down from 72.7% in July 2026. The gap to the next brand, Veterans United Home Loans at 42.1%, was 19.5 points in August 2026. The largest coverage increase was none, as no tracked brand increased valid recommendation coverage from July 2026 to August 2026. The largest coverage decline was Rocket Mortgage, falling from 72.7% in July 2026 to 61.6% in August 2026, a decline of 11.1 points.

The benchmark recorded significant movement this month, with three brands showing declines beyond normal month-to-month variation. Across the full series, all six tracked brands declined in valid recommendation coverage from the July 2026 baseline to August 2026, though three of those declines remained within normal variation.

The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 678 qualified observations in July 2026 and 625 qualified observations in August 2026 after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI/search surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode.

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. The funnel below shows how observations were qualified.

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. AI Market Discovery Methodology

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio’s analysis of how AI search is recommending Mortgage Companies.

Current Brand Standings

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is mentioned at all.
• Valid recommendation coverage: share of qualified observations where the brand receives a valid recommendation.
• Top-three rate: share of qualified observations where the brand appears in the first three recommended positions.
• Rank-one rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is the first recommendation.
• Net sentiment: positive minus negative sentiment among brand mentions, on a scale from negative to positive.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Largest Decline: Freedom Mortgage

Freedom Mortgage's valid recommendation coverage fell from 17.5% in July 2026 to 13.1% in August 2026, a decline of 4.4 points beyond normal variation. Presence rate moved in the opposite direction, rising from 26.8% in July 2026 to 32.6% in August 2026, a 5.8-point increase beyond normal variation. Net sentiment also declined from 0.7 in July 2026 to 0.4 in August 2026. The brand was recommended in 82 of 625 qualified observations in August 2026, compared with 119 of 678 in July 2026.

Rocket Mortgage records 61.6% valid recommendation coverage, while Freedom Mortgage stands at 13.1%. Although Freedom Mortgage's presence increased in August, its valid recommendation coverage declined, meaning the increased visibility is not translating into recommendation at the same rate. The current benchmark does not establish what is driving that divergence. That makes the gap between being present and being recommended the clearest area requiring attention.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Which prompts, AI/search surfaces, recommendation situations, or evidence sources are associated with Freedom Mortgage appearing in the response but not receiving a valid recommendation?

Largest Decline: Rocket Mortgage

Rocket Mortgage's valid recommendation coverage fell from 72.7% in July 2026 to 61.6% in August 2026, a decline of 11.1 points that moved beyond normal month-to-month variation. Presence rate also declined from 97.9% in July 2026 to 95.4% in August 2026, a 2.5-point drop that also moved beyond normal variation. Despite the decline, Rocket Mortgage retained the category lead. The brand was recommended in 385 of 625 qualified observations in August 2026, compared with 493 of 678 in July 2026.

Largest Decline: New American Funding

New American Funding's valid recommendation coverage fell from 28.8% in July 2026 to 21.0% in August 2026, declining 7.8 points beyond normal month-to-month variation. Presence rate also declined from 30.8% in July 2026 to 23.4% in August 2026, a 7.4-point drop beyond normal variation. The brand was recommended in 131 of 625 qualified observations in August 2026, compared with 195 of 678 in July 2026.

Category Leader: Rocket Mortgage

Rocket Mortgage remained the category leader in August 2026 with valid recommendation coverage of 61.6%, a 19.5-point lead over Veterans United Home Loans at 42.1%. The lead narrowed from 25.8 points in July 2026. The gap between loanDepot and Rocket Mortgage narrowed every month, from 46.0 points in July 2026 to 35.5 points in August 2026, a reduction of 10.5 points over the series.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. Placement rates reveal where brands appear within the recommended list. Among the leading brands, Rocket Mortgage was recommended in the top three in 49.9% of observations in August 2026 and as the first recommendation in 29.9%. Veterans United Home Loans followed at 29.0% for top-three placement and 16.5% for first position.

Close coverage can still hide different first-position rates, as seen with New American Funding, whose top-three rate of 6.6% in August 2026 came with a rank-one rate of just 0.5%.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in both months fell into the Brand Recommendation class. The public series currently measures brand-recommendation discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the other buyer-intent classes.

Historical Measurement Record

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure:

• Market share or sales attribution
• Every possible AI response, only the sampled surfaces and prompts
• Organic-search ranking performance
• Social mention volume
• Private or sponsored channels
• Causality from a metric movement alone

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how often tracked brands are mentioned, recommended, and ranked across major AI and search surfaces each month. It is a neutral, industry-level benchmark built from prompt-level observations.

• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Authority Value

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