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Category Archives: HECM Originators

HECM Originators – July 2017

HECM endorsements dropped in July -12% in July, with Retail taking the heavier hit at -13.6% and Wholesale declining -10.4%.

  • Finance of America Reverse was the only top 10 lender to increase volume in the month, rising 4% to 942 loans
  • Fairway rose 20.3% to 77 loans and tie for #8 on the month in our page […]

HECM Originators – June 2017

HECM endorsements declined -0.3% in June, but Retail/direct grew 0.8% to 2,530 loans while Wholesale/broker dropped -1.6%.

5 of the top 10 lenders grew their volume despite the small industry decline, with a huge spread between the top and bottom results:

  • Finance of America Reverse grew 37.9% to 906 loans, their highest reading in over 12 months
  • Synergy […]

HECM Originators – May 2017

HECM endorsements declined -3.6% in May, continuing to slowly recede following the spike in March. After holding up better in April the Wholesale segment accounted for much of May’s decline, dropping -6.7% compared to Retail/direct at just -0.6%.

We also saw several big lenders rising in the month, with 7 of the top 10 posting gains:

  • Live […]

HECM Originators – April 2017

April brought the obligatory drop in endorsements after the big month in March, with volume falling 6% to 5,034 units. That is still good enough for the 2nd highest volume month in the last 12 months, and 4th highest in the past 2 years.

  • Wholesale/broker volume fell 3.6% to 2,511 loans
  • Retail/direct volume fell further, down 8.2% […]

HECM Originators – March 2017

March saw the biggest HECM volume month in quite some time, rising 21.2% from February. This month’s edition of HECM Originators gives us a little more insight into that strength:

  • Wholesale/broker volume jumped 26.3% to 2,606 loans and the closest we’ve seen to parity with Retail/direct in recent memory
  • Retail/direct volume gained a healthy 16.7% to 2,749 loans

Lenders and originators […]

HECM Originators – February 2017

HECM volume dropped -3.5% in February to continue the modest decline from the recent high water mark reached in December. What’s notable is how different the two business channels look:

  • Wholesale/broker volume grew in February, up 5.4% to 2.092 loans – just 1.5% lower than December volume
  • Retail/direct declined -10.3% from its peak in January (one month later than […]

HECM Originators – January 2017

HECM volume started the year off a touch below the recent high water mark from December but still well above the 2016 monthly average. We can now see that Retail has shown significantly more strength the past two months, including a 2.4% increase in January.

  • Live Well led the way among the top 10 lenders with […]

HECM Originators – December 2016

HECM endorsements ended on a high note to close out 2016, up 19.9% to the highest level all year. That growth might have been fueled by some year end clean up, but growth is welcome from just about anywhere these days.

  • RMF more than doubled, up 142.1% to 748 loans to close out the year with 9.9% […]

HECM Originators – November 2016

HECM endorsements dropped slightly in November to 3,884 loans, as we learned last month. We now know that Retail/direct lenders dropped a more substantial -4.3% while Wholesale/broker volume actually rose 3.7%.

A few companies underlined this point with rising retail volume on our page 4 rankings:

  • All Reverse Mortgage (formerly United Southwest) jumped 358% to 55 loans
  • M&T […]

HECM Originators – October 2016

We already knew HECM endorsements rose slightly in October, but now we know that growth came entirely from brokers on the wholesale side.

  • Wholesale volume rose 15.4%, while Retail/direct volume dropped -2.7%
  • Retail continues to be larger than Wholesale, at 55% of all volume in October

This month we’re focusing on the page 4 originator rankings, with several […]