HECM endorsements dropped -10.6% in March to 4,618 loans. That’s an even larger decline (-20.9%) compared to last March, although that’s partly because March 2013 was the highest volume month for the industry since June 2011 – back when Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Metlife were all three still endorsing loans. For now, we’re expecting bigger drops in the next few months given where application and funding volumes have been since 9/30/13 HECM guideline changes. Of course, we also still have financial assessment ahead of us as well so the rest of the year looks challenging for HECM volume.
- The decline was very broad based, with 9 of the 10 regions reporting declines. Southeast/Caribbean was the exception, rising 3.1% to pass Pacific/Hawaii for top volume in the month.
- Top ten lenders fared better than the regions, with 4 of 10 reporting increased volume.
- Liberty showed the biggest jump, rising 15.5% to report the highest volume of all lenders for the month
- One Reverse, AAG and Urban also beat the national trend, rising 13.7%, 4.6% and 4.2%, respectively
Click the image below for the full report.
