We’ve been waiting for Financial Assessment to bring down HECM endorsement volumes and we’ll have to wait at least one more month – but we’re betting that it will only be one more month.
HECM endorsements rose 14.3% to 5,750 loans, the highest level in more than two years (July 2013 @ 5,756). We’ve been talking for the past 3 months now about borrowers with case numbers ahead of the Financial Assessment deadline bumping up the endorsement numbers and this is the highest level yet.
The theme of borrowers getting in ahead of Financial Assessment is further emphasized in looking at regional performance, with only 3 of 10 regions increasing volume:
- Pacific/Hawaii almost doubled, up 93% in just one month. This region and CA state in particular has had heavy refinance activity so far this year, with 1 of every 4 HECMs endorsed in the first half of 2015 coming by way of HECM to HECM refinance.
- Northwest/Alaska grew 91.7%, a performance that would have been incredible in just about any other month
- Last but not least, the smallest region, Great Plains, rose 16.7%
Several lenders had impressive growth as well:
- Liberty Home Equity posted a 54.1% increase for their highest volume since March 2014
- High Tech Lending grew 29.9% to 100 loans
- RMS turned in a fourth consecutive monthly increase at 474 loans, up 21.9% from July
If your company is FHA approved check out the rankings on page 5 of the report below. If your company is not FHA approved, watch out for our next edition of HECM Originators to find your ranking!
Click the image below for the full report.
