Last month in this space we talked about three cities where average home values were growing for HECM loans, and this month we’ll follow that up with three cities gaining in total maximum claim amounts (MCA) year to date.
- Kansas City, MO: Total MCA of all HECMs endorsed Jan-Aug 2012 has grown 70% from the same period last year, enough for first place in our list. KC is seeing both higher average loan sizes (up 17.9%) and more loans, so things are looking rosy. Now if only their football team could turn things around…
- Jamaica, NY: Total MCA up 16.4% year to date, as loans have risen 10.6% and average loan size is up 5.2% (good enough for 9th place on our average MCA growth list).
- Pensacola, FL: This is the only one among the top 3 total MCA growth cities to show a decrease in loan units (-5.4%) so the 15.6% total MCA growth was driven entirely by a 22.2% average loan size increase.
We’ve heard many people say over the years that home prices are the single biggest driver of HECM volumes, and these lists underline that theme well.
- National loan units are down -24.4% year to date through August
- National average MCA is down -2.6% over the same period
All three cities above are seeing average MCA growth well above the national pace, accompanied by outright loan growth in the case of our top 2 and much smaller declines in Pensacola.
Check out the full report below by clicking on the image and learn more about what’s working now in reverse.
