Posts Tagged ‘top hecm cities’
We said last month that we didn’t expect endorsement volumes to continue their good times given the declines in case number assignments and this month underlined the point. March endorsements totaled 4,381 loans, down -19.3% and the lowest level since September 2005.
This marks the first time endorsements fell below the bottom of May 2010 after FHA’s October 2009 reduction in HECM principal limits. It makes perfect sense given that case numbers issued in January fell to the lowest level since May 2005, but we’d also expect at least one more month of similarly low (and probably lower) volume before February’s bounce in case numbers issued resuscitates endorsements a bit.
The above chart shows this is not a seasonality nor business day related drop, as the pattern for Jan/Feb follows the past 2 years closely but is simply shifted downward.
Turning to the report details, the decline in endorsements was broad based as all ten regions saw a decline of -11% or more from Feb. Among lenders, the only top 10 lender showing a gain was American Advisors Group, up 28% and showing the second highest total in its history.
Click on the image below for this month’s report.
Our first look at February HECM endorsements is here and it’s a positive story, although not one we expect to last too long. Endorsements were up 4.9% in February to 5,426 loans and the highest level of the past five months.
Six of the ten regions we track were up from January, with the biggest gainer being New York/New Jersey. Volume there was up 31.5% to 723 loans and the highest since last March. The region is led by New York City itself, up 6.1% from last year, while many of the surrounding areas in NJ and upstate NY are struggling thus far.
The top 8 lenders were evenly split, with four gaining and four declining. Growth was led by the First National Bank of Layton as it hit a new all time high in the month, and Genworth rising 66.6% to 643 loans.
Unfortunately, there is a dark cloud hanging over the growth as January case numbers issued suggest declines in the near future.
Case numbers issued tumbled -4.9% to 5,795, for the first time breaking the lows reached in October 2009 after the first principal limit reduction. To find a month with lower volume we have to go all the way back to May 2005.
Needless to say we can’t expect endorsements to keep going up with case numbers issued headed down, so it looks like tough sledding on the endorsement side for the next couple months at least.
Click on the image below for this month’s report.
If your New Years resolution was to produce more loans in 2012, then you had lots of company along for the ride. January HECM endorsements totaled 5,175 loans, the highest level since September and up 11.6% from last month. On the pessimistic side, Oct-Dec are the only months lower than this total in the past 12, so it’s really a half glass of whatever perspective you’d like to see.
Volume was up all across the nation with the exception of New England dropping -8.8%. Rocky Mountain (28.2%) and Pacific/Hawaii (24.9%) fared particularly well, leading 6 of the 10 regions to double digit percentage growth. Rocky Mountain was also the only region to increase from January 2011, up 1.6% while the industry overall dropped -19.9%.
- Salt Lake City grew 50.7% from last January, powering the Rocky Mountain region totals
- Caribbean, which includes Puerto Rico, grew 26.9%
Among lenders, we saw 6 of the top 8 active lenders increase volume and 4 of those by double digit percentages:
- Security One led the way with a 27.9% increase
- Genworth saw a 26.1% increase
- Both companies posted their highest monthly total on record, although these numbers do include TPO business that wasn’t counted in historical numbers before 2011
- American Advisors (23.4%) and Generation Mortgage (17.2%) rounded out our double digit percentage growers for the month
Active lenders dropped significantly from last year, but that is almost entirely the result of FHA’s move to stop approving brokers which results in those companies not being counted in this total.
Click on the image below for this month’s report.
