Last month we looked at state growth rates since 2007 and found North Carolina looking rosy with Texas holding its own. This month we’ll examine how lender exits have changed the landscape from a state perspective.
We looked at endorsement volumes from October 2010 through March 2011 (the last 2 quarters where Wells, BofA and FF were fully represented) to see how much market share the three collectively had by state. Top 10 states by total volume and national total are in the table below, displaying endorsements and market share from the three exiting lenders.
The results were logical, but surprising for their size. With California continuing to have the most HECM volume, the fact that exiting lenders held almost 50% market share means a huge amount of volume is potentially available. Also among the top 10 states, NC and NJ were above 50% market share.
It’s a huge opportunity for the remaining lenders and one that hasn’t been lost as the aggressive push to hire loan officers from these companies has mostly abated. That’s certainly the most straight-forward strategy, but there is likely to be significant volume still up for grabs in several of these states for those that know where to look.
From an industry perspective, it also means we should expect some of these states (especially NC) to have volumes decline more due to these market share concentrations. The combination of restrictive regulations and large market share for departing lenders means big opportunity for lenders that can do business in NC, but also adds up to opportunity lost for consumers and the industry if there aren’t enough lenders available to serve that 62%.
If you’ll be in Boston for NRMLA’s Annual Convention, don’t miss the HECM by the Numbers panel. We’ll be speaking more on this topic and Purchase/Saver opportunities, currently scheduled for Monday, Oct 24 @ 1 pm.
Click on the image below to view the full HECM Trends report for this month.
