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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.
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%.
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.
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:
Don’t forget to check […]
We knew HECM endorsements for June were down -7.4%, and can now say that decline was felt in both retail, down -9%, and broker/wholesale, down -5.2%. That’s the bad news, but the good news is that we are seeing applications trend slowly but steadily upward for the […]
HECM endorsements rose 7.8% in May, but the big winners were retail lenders with volume up 12.2% compared to just a 2% rise for broker/wholesale volume. Retail is at 59% of industry volume, just short of the 61% reached in September and December last year.
HECM endorsements declined -9.7% in April, but it was a tale of two business channels as retail/direct volume was flat but wholesale/broker volume declined -19.9%. We’ve seen this pattern of greater volatility on the broker side of the business over the years, but even so it’s rare to have the gap this wide.
Month to month HECM endorsement volume is always volatile, but the past few months have seen more than the usual jumps in lender rankings and performance. Blame the overall industry swings in the adjustment to FHA policy changes last year, which is also why overall volume was down -10.6% in March from February.
A second straight month of increased endorsements and now we know wholesale/broker volumes were ahead of retail too. Total HECM endorsements were up 2.1% in February, but that masked 12.4% growth in wholesale/broker volumes while retail shrank -6.3%.
We’ve seen this pattern before with more volatility in broker […]
We wrote in a previous report of our surprise at January’s 19.7% increase in HECM endorsements, now we know that it was primarily wholesale channel loans powering that surge. Wholesale volume rose 39% in January, compared to a 7.5% increase on retail/direct endorsements from December.
Many of the […]
