Home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) endorsement volume dropped 20.6% in August, its lowest level since mid-2005, according to the latest data analysis from Reverse Market Insight (RMI).
Wholesale/broker volume dropped 26.3%, significantly more than the 16.2% decline in the retail/direct channel.
“August endorsements followed the typical pattern of broker/wholesale being more volatile month to month than retail, so the sharp industry decline saw bigger wholesale drops than retail,” RMI President John K. Lunde tells RMD.
Despite some marked decreases in August endorsement volume, there were still a few bright spots in the results, Lunde writes in his analysis.
Cherry Creek Mortgage jumped 42.2% to 91 loans in August; Proficio Mortgage grew 14.5% to 134 loans; and One Reverse Mortgage managed a gain of 5.4% to 392 loans.
Overall, American Advisors Group (AAG) continues to top the list of rankings, taking the first spot in the list of top-100 HECM originators for the month of August. Following behind in the top five are One Reverse Mortgage, RMS/Security One Lending, Proficio Mortgage and Urban Financial of America.
The total retail and wholesale volume among the top-10 originators amounted to 2,622 loans in August, down from 3,831 in September 2013.
Lunde estimates the endorsements for the rest of the year — October through December — will come in around 3,500 to 4,000 per month, totaling about 50,000 endorsed loans for the year, lower than endorsement volume in the past three years.
View the RMI data here.
Written by Emily Study
