HECM endorsements dropped -15% in August to 2,341 loans, throwing a little cold water on the industry after 6 months of relatively optimistic endorsement volumes eased concerns over Dec-Jan readings <2,000 loans per month. This could easily be a blip given the lower interest rates easing lenders’ path to higher principal limits, but that’s always the trouble with endorsements being such a lagging indicator.
All 10 regions were down so this wasn’t an isolated decline:
- Great Plains fared best, dropping -3.8% to 50 loans
- Pacific/Hawaii fell -6.8% to 711 loans
- Southeast/Caribbean shrank -10.8% to 413 loans
Several lenders fared much better than the regions, with half of the top ten notching gains:
- HighTech leaped 171.4% to 76 loans, close to overtaking Longbridge for #9 over the last 12 months
- Longbridge held off HighTech with 36% growth to 68 loans
- One Reverse grew 3.8% to 249 loans
If your company is FHA approved check out the rankings on page 5 of the report below. If your company is not FHA approved, watch out for our next edition of HECM Originators to find your ranking!
Click the image below for the full report.
