The HECM Saver continues to gain momentum according to the latest Industry Trends Report from Reverse Market Insight (RMI). Saver endorsements increased to 409 in March accounting for 5.6% of total endorsements and a 38.2% increase over February.
Saver endorsements also exceeded the number of refinance transactions for the first time. RMI now projects that the market share for the HECM Saver could exceed 10% in that later part of this year.
In terms of application trends, although the number of applications increased by 8.5% in March, but the total increased is dampened by the fact that there were three more business days in March as compared to February. Accordingly, the number of applications per day actually declined by 5.1%. Depending on your perspective, the application trend for the industry could be seen moving in either direction. However, being the second straight month that applications increased, there is growing support for a positive trend.
Geographically, Texas is holding steady with the second highest year-to-date volume, but fifth ranked Pennsylvania (27.2%) and tenth ranked North Carolina (40.8%) have shown the fastest percentage growth rates. Philadelphia, accounting for almost 30% of Pennsylvania's volume appears to be the driving force behind the state's growth.
California, the top producing state by a wide margin over Texas (1,910 units to 1,143 YTD), also has top three producing counties, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego.
