Overall reverse mortgage endorsements slid slightly in December, driven primarily by sluggish wholesale performance.
Home Equity Conversion Mortgage originators generated 4,747 loans in the final month of 2017, according to the most recent data from Reverse Market Insight. That figure, 0.7% dip from November, includes lenders approved by the Federal Housing Administration and non-approved firms.
Wholesale endorsements slipped 4.3% from the previous month, while retail endorsements grew 2.1%. Still, that retail gain is much smaller than the 13.7% jump in retail production between October and November, perhaps reflecting the surge in demand from borrowers attempting to lock in higher principal limit factors ahead of program changes on October 2.
For the year, retail originations finished about 14% ahead of wholesale loans, or 3,716 more loans on the retail side.
Overall top lender American Advisors Group ended 2017 with 13,751 total loans for 24.2% market share, followed by Finance of America Reverse with 9,453 and Reverse Mortgage Funding with 6,397.
In December, Longbridge Financial saw a 26.2% surge in volume, propelling the lender to ninth place for the month, while Reverse Mortgage Funding had a 2017-best 672 loans, RMI observed in its analysis.
Check out the full statistics at Reverse Market Inisight.
Written by Alex Spanko
