Although reverse mortgage volume had a rather sluggish start to 2016, some major cities were able to crank out higher production in January compared to last year.
Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsements for January were just over 8% lower than January 2015’s single-month total, according to the most recent industry data released by Reverse Market Insight (RMI) this week.
Just one region among the top-10 areas tracked by RMI experienced a collective increase in January from the prior month. So it was only fitting that the Rocky Mountain region was home to two of the highest growth cities for HECM endorsement volume on a year-over-year basis: Denver and Fargo, N.D.
Fargo had the highest year-over-year growth (75%) in January, albeit the city only grew production from just four loans in 2015 to seven units in 2016.
Meanwhile, Denver saw volume increase 34% to 138 loans, up from 103 in January 2015. The Mile High City also saw a significant increase in active lenders, which grew 39.1% year-over-year to 32 lenders.
Tucson, Ariz. also experienced a year-over-year increase in HECM endorsement volume for January. The city, which was just one of two areas to report an increase in the Pacific/Hawaii region, posted a 23.5% growth to 21 loans in January. Active lenders in the market nearly doubled compared to its year-ago level, rising from seven to 13, a growth of 85.7%.
Ranking fourth, Seattle reported a 16.4% y-o-y volume gain to 85 loans recorded in January. The largest metro in the Northwest/Alaska region, Seattle’s active lenders grew from 21 in Jan. 2015 to 26 in Jan. 2016, an increase of 23.8%.
Behind the Emerald City, the next top-ranked city for growth on a yearly basis is Cincinnati. In January, Cincy reported just 15 loans, a 15.4% increase from the same month a year ago. Meanwhile, the number of active lenders operating in the city grew 80% to nine, up from just five in January 2015.
Representing the Southeast/Caribbean region, Tampa shined this past January compared to Jan. ’15. The city, which posted the highest year-over-year growth in its region, reported 85 loans in January, a 14.9% increase, despite the city’s decline in active lenders to 18 from 20 during the month last year.
See how your city stacked up in January.
Written by Jason Oliva
