HECM endorsements overall were down -14.8% in December, with Wholesale/brokers (-14.9%) and Retail/direct (-14.8%) in virtual lock-step for the second month in a row.
Four of the top ten lenders managed to grow in spite of the industry decline:
- South River increased 10% to 77 loans
- Longbridge gained 9.3% to 492 loans, approaching AAG’s total for the month as the first real challenge to the longstanding #1 in many years
- Mutual of Omaha was just behind, rising 5.6% to 471 loans
- Last but not least, Open Mortgage rose 2.9% to 105 loans
Case numbers lost another -18.8% in December:
- Equity Takeout cases issued (new reverses that are neither purchase nor refinances) fell -19.5% to 2,282 – a new 3 year low
- Purchase (H4P) dropped back to 135, as seasonality and general declines both appear to have hurt this small segment
- H2H refinance case numbers dropped to 273, a confirmation the refi wave is well and truly in the trough
If you’re searching for ways to turn things up in 2023, check out the links below:
- Leave rate sheet busywork behind with our Pricing Platform
- Find new reverse customers with the higher lending limits
- Contact us now to get a sneak preview of our Product Qualification API launching later this month
Check out the full rankings on pages 3 and 4 of the full report below by clicking on the image.