Last month we noticed that the wholesale/broker side of the reverse mortgage industry outperformed the direct/retail side after 7 consecutive months of falling behind. Given that the total market was down -10%, outperforming took the form shrinking less, and now can draw a line through this month to call it a trend.
Overall industry volume declined -11.4% in October, but wholesale shrank just -9.8% compared to a -12.6% decline in retail. Two months in a row make a trend, but the true test will be next month to see if wholesale can grow faster than retail in a month of rapidly rising volume.
4 of the top 10 lenders increased their retail volume in October, and 3 of those increased overall volume as well. The two lenders that saw differing trends from retail to wholesale were:
- Sun West increased overall volume (including wholesale) and remains ranked 9th among all lenders, despite very little retail volume (ranked 148th)
- 1st AAA increased retail volume in October and is ranked 8th among retail lenders and the top broker in the nation
If you’re curious what our industry might look like in the future, check out page 2 for a view of the fastest growing retail and wholesale lenders in the nation. A sneak peek:
- All five of the fastest growing wholesale lenders saw their retail volumes decline in the past 12 months
- 4 of the 5 fastest growing ‘retail’ businesses have no wholesale business, with the exception (Metlife) seeing a decline in their wholesale volumes
One interpretation might be that the tough year we’ve just lived through has forced companies to focus on specific channel goals for their best growth opportunities. Either way, all of these companies deserve credit for growing their businesses in a very difficult environment.
Click the image below to access the full report:
