Endorsements for Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs) declined nationally in November for nearly every region and among most of the top-10 reverse mortgage lenders, according to the latest HECM Lenders report from Reverse Market Insight.
HECM endorsements declined 9.1% in November to 4,410 loans compared to the previous month, however, the drop did retain most of the big gains from October, which reported 4,852 loans.
November’s tally brings the 2014 year-to-date total to 47,812 loans thus far. And while it seems unlikely this year will surpass that of its shadow-year of 2012, there is still one more month to go before all is said and done.
“Given this somewhat expected pullback we’re not expecting 2014 to exceed 2012’s calendar year total of 52,993 as that would take a December volume of 5,181 loans, which would be the highest so far this year and seems unlikely, though not totally out of reach,” RMI writes.
Almost all of the 10 regions nationwide experienced HECM endorsement declines in November, with the exception of the Northwest/Alaska and the Pacific/Hawaii region, which continued to lead the pack during the month by posting 1,186 loans, a 16.9% increase from the previous month. The Northwest/Alaska region reported 207 loans in November, a 15.5% increase compared to October.
The New England (161) and Rocky Mountain (177) regions saw some of the bigger monthly declines during November at 30.6% and 24.7% decreases, respectively. The Southeast/Caribbean, on the other hand, reported the smallest monthly decline in November with 884 loans, approximately 6.5% lower than the 945 units it reported in October.
As for the top-10 lenders, the only three to buck the November trend were Maverick Funding, Live Well Financial and Liberty Home Equity Solutions, which remained flat during the month at 314 loans to retain its #4 ranking.
Maverick, which ranked #10, reported 115 loans during the month, a 25% increase from October’s 92 loans, and the largest monthly total in the past 12 months. Year-to-date, the company has 698 loans.
Live Well reported an approximate 11.2% increase in HECM endorsements for November with 119 loans. Like Maverick, Live Well also set a new high for their trailing 12 months. These efforts contributed to the company’s year-to-date total of 818 loans.
American Advisors Group continued to lead the way among the top-10 lenders with 1,040 loans in November, which represent a 13.9% decline compared to the prior month. The company’s running total year-to-date in 2014 stands at 11,007.
View the RMI report.
Written by Jason Oliva
