Home Equity Conversion Mortgage lenders have endorsed 29,072 loans through the end of June 2017, an increase of 18.0% from the same time last year — continuing an overall upward trend despite month-to-month declines.

After a slow January and February, endorsements have now outpaced their 2016 figures for the fourth consecutive month, according to the most recent data from Reverse Market Insight. In addition, refinances have accounted for 16% of all endorsements thus far — a 100% increase over the same mark in June 2016.

The positive yearly totals stand in contrast to an RMI report from earlier this month, which showed a 0.3% drop in endorsements between May and June 2017 — with a 1.6% decline in wholesale lending wiping out a 0.8% bump in retail. Month-to-month endorsements have been on a steady decline since the blockbuster March total of 5,355, a 21.2% increase over February; however, June represented the smallest monthly decline of the past 12 months.

On a state-by-state basis, the Mountain West and Pacific Northwest continued to show impressive signs of growth, with endorsements in Colorado riding 76.6% higher than the total this time last year. Oregon’s boost came in at 44.3%, followed closely by Washington state at 43.7%.

The number of active originators in the industry remains significantly higher than at this time last year, with the 719 players in the market representing a 14.9% jump from June 2016. Last month, after an RMI report indicated a more than 23% increase in active originators, RMI president John Lunde speculated that forward lenders and brokers — frustrated by stagnant refinance demand — have entered the reverse market in search of business, contributing to the uptick.

Read RMI’s most recent report here.

Written by Alex Spanko