Category Archives: HECM Originators

HECM endorsements recovered dramatically in May after HUD and lender operations challenges related to the pandemic constrained volume in April.

Rather than comparing May to April, it makes more sense to compare Apr/May average to the Q1 average for each lender to see how their endorsement volumes are trending:

• FAR leads the way with 30.7% growth from […]
  

We already know that April HECM endorsements dropped off a cliff and recovered in May, which strongly suggested that April’s volume had a lot of other factors than a drop in HECM lending behind the decline.

We now have more detailed data to confirm just how noisy the month was, so rather than analyze it we’ll […]

HECM endorsements dropped -14.1% in March to 2,905 loans.

The top 10 outperformed again, dropping -11.1%. 4 of the top 10 lenders bucked the trend entirely and grew on the month:

• HighTech recovered 38.2% to 47 loans
• Fairway continued an impressive run, notching 197 loans and 31.3% growth from Feb
• FAR jumped 21.8% to 586 loans, a third consecutive […]
  

HECM endorsements dropped -13.7% in February to 3,381 loans after a truly impressive start to 2020.

The top 10 as a group did a bit better, dropping -11.9%, but as always some lenders had strong performances:

• Fairway jumped 61.3% to 150 loans, their highest showing in over a year
• Liberty grew 20.3% to finish with 794 loans and […]
  

HECM endorsements dropped again in December, finishing the year at 32,448 loans. That’s a decline of -22.2% from 2018, but that really does skew perception given that 2018 endorsements were inflated by 2017 fundings leaking into the first few months of 2018. Suffice to say that most everyone we’ve talked to in the industry lately […]

HECM endorsements dropped back -13.5% in November after a strong October, with Wholesale easing -4.5% while Retail suffered a bigger decline at -18.6%.

The top 10 as a group again slightly under-performed the industry (-13.8%) but some lenders had strong performances:

• Finance of America gained 16.6% to 387 loans, their highest total since July
• Sun American (page 4) […]
  

HECM endorsements grew 36% in October, powered by Retail rising 45% and Wholesale perking up 22.7%.

That’s the highest monthly total since February, and that was fueled more by a backlog of endorsement activity rather than the higher origination volumes driven by lower interest rates as is currently the case.

The top 10 as a group slightly […]

HECM endorsements dropped -15% in August, with Retail declining -16.7% and Wholesale only slightly better at -12.4%.

Most of the top 10 fared better than the industry, with 5 of the 9 (excluding Live Well) increasing on the month:

• High Tech put in its best showing since February, rising 171% to 76 loans after a dismal July
• Longbridge […]
  

HECM endorsements rose 8.2% in July, with Retail jumping 12.9% and Wholesale nudging 1.8% higher.

7 of the top 10 lenders gained on the month:

• Liberty grew 23% to 230 loans
• RMF increased 22.1% to 293 loans
• Synergy One gained 20.3% to finish with 178 loans

Special shout out to Advisors Mortgage Group that jumped all the way to #9 […]

HECM endorsements dropped -5.6% in June, as Retail sank -8.7% and Wholesale held steadier at -0.9%.

Just 3 of the top 10 lenders gained on the month:

• HighTech jumped 73.5% to 59 loans after a tough May
• Fairway gained 40% to 98 loans in their highest showing since February
• Finance of America Reverse grew 35.8% to 410 loans

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