Category Archives: HECM Originators

April marked the fourth month in a row with a split in business channel growth for the reverse mortgage industry. For April, Retail declined -6.3% and Wholesale grew 1.7%. All in a month where endorsements declined -3.1%, with declining volume also being a trend in its fourth consecutive month.

But of course, a slow decline over […]

In February, the wholesale channel increased HECM endorsements in a down month for the industry overall, and now in March’s HECM Originators reports we’ve seen the exact opposite with retail outpacing brokers dramatically. Adding the two months together it’s clear that retail got the best of the action – dropping just 102 loans from a much higher […]

HECM endorsements fell -4.5% in February, but brokers bucked the trend with an increase of 4.7% while the retail channel declined -11%.

Several lenders also rose in spite of the overall industry decline:

• Live Well Financial jumped 40.8% to their highest level in over a year
• One Reverse Mortgage grew 8.7% to 500 loans without any help from broker […]
  

HECM endorsements were relatively flat across both retail (+0.2%) and wholesale (-0.5%) in January, leading to a steady overall industry volume picture. As always though, there was movement in the rankings below the headline number.

• RMS/S1L bounced back with a 26% increase from December, marking the company’s highest volume month since last February
• Urban jumped 15% to […]
  

Retail led the increase in HECM endorsements for December, up 14.7% to 2,867 units compared to 12.1% rise for the industry overall. Wholesale grew somewhat slower, up 8.7% in the month.

• One Reverse led the growth among lenders, rising 45.9% to 540 loans
• Reverse Mortgage Funding also […]
  

HECM endorsements declined modestly in November after a big rise in October, split almost evenly across business channels. Retail originations declined slightly more, down -9.8%, than wholesale/broker volumes at -8.2%.

Lender volatility was a little more significant although still relatively muted as […]

October started off the fourth quarter strong for HECM endorsements, rising 28.9% to 4,851 loans. That rise was led by brokers, as the wholesale channel grew 37.3% compared to an only slightly less impressive 23.4% for the larger retail/direct channel.

• On the wholesale side, Urban continues to lead all wholesale lenders followed by Liberty and AAG, […]
  

Just as a rising tide lifts all boats, so the increase in HECM endorsements in September spread the growth virtually identically across the Retail/direct and Wholesale/TPO channels. The overall industry grew 15.8% to 3,762 loans after the disastrous levels reached in August, with Wholesale gaining 15.9% to Retail’s 15.6%.

• Liberty more than doubled, up 132% to 552 […]
  

August was an ugly month for HECM endorsements, dropping -20.6% to the lowest level since June 2005. Wholesale/broker volumes dropped -26.3%, significantly more than the -16.2% decline in retail/direct business.

In spite of the tough sledding, there were still a few bright spots in the results.

• Cherry Creek jumped 42.2% to 91 loans
• Proficio grew 14.5% to 134 […]
  

HECM endorsments were down -1.7% in July, but broker/wholesale business rose 1.4% whereas retail/direct volume dropped -3.9%. A few notables:

• Urban, Generation, Cherry Creek and Sun West all increased volume in July, bucking the industry decline
• Several leading lenders grew retail volume in the month, including AAG, Urban, Net Equity, High Tech Lending, and M&T Bank

Don’t forget to check […]