Category Archives: HECM Lenders

HECM endorsements started the new year with a bang, rising 10.8% to 4,539 loans. That’s the highest since the surge in May as endorsements caught up from the COVID-remote working transition lull in March and April. Quite the positive start for the year!

For the second straight month we saw 8 of the 10 regions increase […]

HECM endorsements finished 2020 well, rising 15.1% to 4,097 loans.

It was quite the roller coaster for everyone last year and the reverse mortgage industry was no different.

• We ended less than 5% changed from the monthly volume in January
• April saw just 1,601 loans endorsed (-59%!) as the pandemic impacted operations at lenders and HUD processing centers
• May […]
  

HECM endorsements continued their slow trickle downward, losing -4.7% in November to end the month with 3,561 loans.

Four of the ten regions grew, but they tended to be the smaller volume areas.

• Great Plains is the smallest region by volume but showed the biggest increase, rising 26.2% to 53 loans
• Midwest gained 8.8% to finish at 223 […]
  

HECM endorsements dropped -5.1% in October, ending the month with 3,737 loans.

Geographically, the industry had its two largest regions post declines while half of the remaining regions showed mostly small gains.

• New York/New Jersey was the notable exception, notching a strong 27.8% jump in volume to 193 loans
• Rocky Mountain rose 1.5% to 461 loans
• Southwest and Mid-Atlantic […]
  

HECM endorsements declined -5.9% in August to 4,007 loans, as reverse mortgage volume continues to be strong in the pandemic era.

Four of the ten regions around the country added volume in the month:

• Midwest rose 13.6% to 242 loans
• New England increased 10.1% to 120 loans
• NY/NJ and Great Plains grew 4.8% and 1.5%, respectively

Among lenders, 4 of […]

HECM endorsements grew 1.1% in July to 4,256 loans, lending further credibility to the increased volume levels since initial pandemic slowdowns in endorsement processing for March-April were overcome.

Six of the ten regions around the country grew in the month:

• New England paced the pack, rising 11.2% to 109 loans
• Southeast/Caribbean jumped 9.3% to 751 loans
• Great Plains gained […]
  

HECM endorsements fell -16.5% in June from a inflated May total artificially by the backlog from April, but still registered the second highest monthly total in a year.

June was 7.4% above the next highest month (January) and underlines the increased activity many lenders have been discussing since shortly after the pandemic started.

• Just 1 of the […]
  

Last month we weren’t depressed by incredibly low April HECM endorsement numbers, and this month we look at the figures as catching up rather than some new trend.

HECM endorsements more than tripled in May, leaping 214.7% to 5,038 loans. Averaging April and May figures together would have the industry at 3,320 loans per month, just […]

The coronavirus pandemic has distorted many numbers, and we can add one more casualty.

HECM endorsements crashed -45% in April to 1,601 loans, lower than the low put in Dec 2018 (1,751) after the last round of PLF and rate floor changes from HUD. While we’d normally be very concerned about this level of drop, we […]