March saw a nice little bounce in HECM endorsement volumes, up 8.3% to 2,058 loans. Even more importantly (in terms of future volumes), we also saw February case numbers issued rise 10.6% to 3,237.
- Equity Takeout (new borrowers) rose 10.7%
- Purchase was up 15.1%
- Refinance increased 8.8%
Back to the endorsements, the regions shared the good news with 6 of the 10 rising on the month, with a notable tilt to the larger volume areas:
- All of the top 5 regions by volume gained volume, led by Northwest/Alaska up 23% to 166 loans
- Rocky Mountain increased 17.1% to 185
- Southwest was up 15% to 230 loans
Top lenders enjoyed solid months as well, with 6 of the top 9 showing gains:
- Guild rocketed up 96.6% to 57 loans
- Goodlife made it 3 growth months in a row to start the year, rising 26.2% to 82 loans
- Liberty jumped 25.4% to 84 loans
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