HECM endorsements finished strong with the highest volume of the year, rising 5.4% to 5,218 loans. This is the highest monthly volume since January 2018 when the last rush of loans under the old rules created a spike in endorsements before a multi-year recovery period.
Eight of the ten regions were up on the month including all of the top six:
- Great Plains leaped 85% from 46 loans to 85
- Midwest rose 15.8% to 257 loans, the highest since an impressive first quarter of the year
- Rocky Mountain rounded out the double digit increases at 12.7%, with 782 loans.
- This region is one of the best stories of 2021, rising from a dead heat with Northwest/Alaska for 4th place to challenging Southeast/Caribbean for 2nd!
- Check out page 4 to see Colorado and Utah powering this rise!
The top lenders were a different story, as just 4 of the top 10 managed gains despite the heady overall totals:
- FAR jumped 48.9% to 560 loans – in shouting distance of their all time high of 636 (Jan 2018)
- Mutual of Omaha rose 37.6% to 483 loans – making a new all time high for the 3rd time in the past 4 months
- Fairway gained 28.9% to 214 loans – just a dozen loans shy of their all time high in May 2020
Click the image below for the full report.