Category Archives: HECM Originators

HECM endorsements plummeted -43.5% in September, with both wholesale/brokers (-47.3%) and retail/direct (-39.8%) off dramatically from August.

The top 10 lenders fared worse collectively than the industry overall, dropping -45.5%.

• Only two of the top 10 declined less than 30% on the month
• Mutual of Omaha dropped -7.7% to 469 loans
• Open Mortgage fell -18.5% to 132 loans

Case numbers […]

HECM endorsements rose 16.3% in August, with wholesale/brokers (25.3%) outperforming retail/direct (8.8%) substantially.

Eight of the top ten lenders were up on the month – although it’s very likely they all declined in September on the same basis…

• Fairway led the charge, jumping 65.5% to 293 loans
• Longbridge was just behind, increasing 53.1% to 1,447 […]
  

HECM endorsements dropped -17.1% in July, with both channels falling lower together. Retail/direct lenders lost -19.0% while the Wholesale/broker channel dropped -14.7%.

• Longbridge stood out as the only top 10 lender to increase volume, rising 30.3% to 945 loans – an all time company high for this report
• H2H refinance case numbers issued dropped to 1,023 in […]
  

HECM endorsements rose 2.7% in June, with both channels modestly higher. Retail/direct lenders gained 1.6% while the Wholesale/broker channel rose 4.1%.

Five of the top ten lenders managed to rise in a surprisingly differentiated month:

• Longbridge jumped 31.8% to 725 loans, their highest since January
• Hightech rose 18.4% to 103 loans
• South River bounced back 17.7% to 153 loans

Several […]

HECM endorsements dropped a further -7.6% in May, with lender volume again falling more than brokers on the month. Retail/direct lenders dropped -8.2% while the Wholesale/broker channel declined -6.9%.

After 2 full years without an in person NRMLA conference, we just completed our second in 3 months in Baltimore. Business casual reigned and moods relaxed, with […]

HECM endorsements eased down -3.7% in April after a recent high in March, with lenders pulling back more than brokers on the month. Retail/direct lenders dropped -5% while the Wholesale/broker channel declined just -2%.

While we don’t currently publish proprietary volume numbers, there was no shortage of anecdotes at the NRMLA West conference last month that […]

HECM endorsements set a recent record in March by rising 26.4% to 6,495 loans, but we’re digging a bit deeper today:

• Wholesale/broker led the way, rising 28% to 2,765 loans
• Retail/direct growth trailed slightly, increasing 25.2% to 3,730
• Refis slipped another point to 48.3% of all loans in March, a second consecutive month of slight drops – and […]
  

We already know HECM endorsements dropped in February, but now we know that both business channels showed similar trends on the month.

We can also now say that refis continued at a high level at just over 50% of all endorsements in February – consistent with the past 9 months starting last June in a tight […]

HECM endorsements rose 10.5% in January, with Retail/direct playing some catchup at 13.3% and Wholesale/broker up 7%.

Several top 10 lenders had a great start to the year:

• Something good is clearly in the water over at Longbridge these days: rising 47.4% to 889 loans, just 5 months after posting 3 consecutive months <300 last summer

[…]

HECM endorsements grew 5.4% in December, led by Wholesale/broker rising 7.4% while Retail/direct managed 3.8%.

The year as a whole was notable for the sustained rise in HECM to HECM refinances as increasing home prices and low interest rates fueled a surge in resetting existing loans to allow more access to cash and/or lower accrual rates […]