With January Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsement data in the books for 2015, reverse mortgage volume is off to a lower start than in 2014, however, some states have already begun to see some significant growth, according to the latest data from Reverse Market Insight (RMI).
HECM endorsements in January were down 2.3% from the prior year at 4,936 units, compared to 5,054 recorded during the same month in 2014. The year-to-date decline is nearly the same as the 2.5% drop HECM endorsements experienced when comparing January 2013 to January 2014 data.
While analyzing year-to-date results for the first month of the year offers some insight into where HECM volume sits at the year’s beginning, comparing data in a single month does not tell the full story.
“On the one hand, any single month comparison is noisy and potentially misleading since endorsements are typically less managed than applications or funding,” writes RMI in its HECM Trends report for January 2015. “On the other hand, it’s useful to think about how much the industry has changed in the past 12 months.”
The past year has marked considerable changes for some states and cities, particularly Florida, which saw HECM endorsements rise 15.2% year-to-date to 364 units, effectively pushing it to the second spot among the top-10 ranked states.
The Sunshine State surpassed Texas, which posted a 4.7% decrease in endorsements in the past 12 months—342 units—and sits behind California, whose 1,006 units in January 2015 represented a 0.3% drop in endorsement volume compared to January 2014.
Virginia saw the biggest year-to-date decline in endorsements in January, falling 30.7% to 112 units, whereas states like New York and Illinois posted no changes, tallying 304 and 115 units, respectively.
Zooming in at the city-level, Baltimore and Las Vegas both had massive growth figures at 100% and 85.7%, respectively, but top-ranked Los Angeles’ increase of 23.8% helped the city maintain its position as the largest city for HECM volume.
Among the top-10 reverse mortgage lenders jostling for position in January, American Advisors Group held down the top spot with 986 loans year-to-date.
RMS/Security One Lending trailed with 488 units, while One Reverse Mortgage followed closely behind with 460.
View the HECM Trends – January 2015 data.
Written by Jason Oliva
