November’s endorsement numbers are in and the volume was pretty weak, coming in at 7,738 units for the month. This is down almost 12% from October, and 34% from the peak volume month of April 2009, and just to pile on the misery, is the lowest volume month we’ve seen since September ’07.
Year to date our industry has endorsed 103,640 loans, trailing 2008 volume by 1.7%. The majority of that discrepancy is accounted for by the Southeast/Caribbean region, which is down 13.5% YTD. Other regions on the downswing include the Great Plains (-13%), Midwest (-9%), and New England (-6%) regions.
On the competitive front, the number of active lenders in November dropped back below 1,000, and the number of new lenders entering the market continues its downward march. Check out the charts on page two for a quick glance at what the industry looks like over the past year.
Despite the weakness in volume and concurrent weakness in lender growth, all is not lost. The regional tables on pages 3 and 4 offer an at a glance, high level look at the markets across the country. It shows areas that are growing, and areas that have a good number of loans being done per lender. If you are looking to expand your business, this is as good a place as any to start planning the “where” in the expansion equation.
We are keeping this short and sweet this month. Click on the image below for this month’s report.
