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HECM endorsements declined -6.9% in February after a surge in January, but stayed well above the average for the prior 11 months at 4,833 loans.
Some regions of the country were more affected than others by the small decline, while others broke the trend to increase from January:
In the first report of 2013, HECM endorsements were up 32.6% to 5,189 – the highest level we’ve seen since last February. It’s possible that the increase was due to a catch up from prior months that were depressed due to FHA system issues, but in any event it puts a rather welcome positive note […]
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.
The industry endorsements increased 18.5% for the month of November, coming in at 4,436 vs the 3,745 reported last month. This marks the best month since June.
Geographically speaking, all regions were up relative to October, a feat not matched since… June.
HECM endorsements for October totaled 3,745, growing a paltry 1.1% from the low registered in September. This wasn’t a large enough increase to even beat the July reading, so October goes in the books as the second lowest volume month since July 2005.
Among geographic regions, 5 were up and 5 were down:
HECM endorsements for September totaled 3,706 loans, down 10.1% from August. The drop was felt across the nation, with 9 of 10 regions tracked seeing declines.
From a lender perspective, the entire decline can be summed within the top 10 lenders ranked on page 2:
HECM endorsements were up 6.6% in August to 4,122 loans, bouncing back from a level not seen in many years but still the second lowest reading in the past 12 months.
Volume was up in every region except Rocky Mountain, which dropped 1.1%. Leading the way was Southeast/Caribbean up 10.5% from July.
Among lenders, we saw Metlife […]
Last month in this report we talked about two pleasant surprises on the volume side, which leaves us talking about a drop-off this month in HECM volume – albeit in the less hopeful of our two surprises. July saw HECM endorsements drop to 3,868 loans, down -25.4% […]
HECM endorsements rose 16.9% to 5,187 in June, partly on the back of increases from both Metlife and First National Bank of Layton, both of which have announced exits from the industry. We expect Metlife in particular to start showing significant volume declines in July and August, some of which won’t be replaced by increased […]
HECM endorsements were down -3.4% in May to 4,439 units, flirting with the multi-year lows we saw in March. As we’ve noted before, we do think it’s likely we’ll see lower volumes play out through the end of summer based on Metlife’s announced exit from the industry. May is an extension of weak application volumes […]
