In relation to a mortgage, it refers to refers to mortgage loan applications that have been initiated and offered to potential borrowers but that have not closed yet. It consists of a group of mortgages that have been approved for sale with a certain locked-in interest rate, but have not been matched or financed yet.

A mortgage pipeline constitutes the time gap that lapses between submission of mortgage loan applications by potential borrowers and the initiation of actual marketing/ disbursal. This involves locking in mortgage loans with an originator at the request of borrowers, mortgage brokers, or lenders. Once locked in, a mortgage remains in an originator’s pipeline until the time it is processed (sale in the secondary market, addition to the originator’s portfolio) or it falls out.