After a lengthy delay, we finally have the Wholesale Leaders Report for May available, and the results certainly reflect the trends seen in the HECM Endorsement reports.
Overall Wholesale volume for the month of May was down 20% from the prior month, to 4,275 units. This compares to a 35.5% drop in direct endorsed loans, and a 28.4% drop in overall endorsements – and marks a change from the previous months where the wholesale business underperformed.
Financial Freedom regained the top spot on a combined (retail + wholesale) trailing twelve month basis, holding an 18.1% market share, slightly higher than Wells Fargo’s 18% share. If we dive deeper into the numbers, the story changes dramatically – despite holding the overall lead for the trailing 12 months, Freedom’s wholesale business trailed the likes of BofA, MetLife, and World Alliance Financial in the month of May.
On a somewhat odd note, the only two wholesale lenders that saw volume growth in May were JB Nutter and World Alliance Financial. JB Nutter is recovering from their warehouse line issues, and, well, we all know what is happening at WAF right now, so it’ll be interesting to see where their customers go until the situation gets resolved.
As always, your questions and comments are welcomed – enjoy the report.
