It’s perhaps fitting that December HECM endorsement totals came in at 3,912 loans, down -11.8% from November and registering the 4th month below 4,000 loans in the past 6. That brings total 2012 calendar year (as opposed to federal fiscal year that FHA uses) endorsements to 52,992, down -22.9% from 2011.
- For the year, the drop was steepest in New England at -28.8%
- The Rocky Mountain region had the smallest decline at -13.1%, but it also tied for the 3rd smallest volume region in the country so that didn’t help the industry overall much
- Month over month, these two were also the only regions to increase volume from November, with Rocky Mountain seeing its highest monthly total since June
- Mid Atlantic declined the most from last month, dropping -23.9% to make November look more like a dead cat bounce than a lasting trend
Among lenders, December saw Liberty Home Equity Solutions (formerly known as Genworth Financial Home Equity Access) jump 44.7% to its highest volume since February. On the flip side, Urban Financial dropped back -34.6% after a healthy increase in November.
A little housekeeping note – HUD has informed us that some HECM data will not be available until further notice, so the HECM Originators and HECM Trends reports will likely be on hiatus for a month or two.
