Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsements rose by 1.2%% in the month of July 2020, for a total of 4,254 loans according to the latest HECM Originators report from Reverse Market Insight (RMI). The rise comes in the midst of generally heightened reverse mortgage industry activity that has been taking place over the past few months as the economic impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic continues.

The rise was led by the wholesale endorsement segment of business, which experienced a jump of 10.6% that month, helping to offset a 5.3% drop in endorsements from the retail segment of the business.

Among the top 10 lenders who appeared to perform best in July, Longbridge Financial had the most pronounced performance increase recording a 78.9% jump to 381 loans. Open Mortgage followed with a rise of 37.6% to 139 loans. Among the other top ten lenders, Reverse Mortgage Funding (RMF), Finance of America Reverse (FAR) and Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. all recorded increases of anywhere between 1-12% for the month of July.

However, the most improved levels of overall performance were reserved for lenders outside of the bounds of the top 10. South River Mortgage based in Annapolis, Md. grew 118% to 48 loans, which RMI characterizes as “a flying start in reverse” in the commentary accompanying the data.

Utah-based Heritage Home Loans gained 283% in July to settle at 23 loans, and has marked a 156% increase in endorsements when compared with data from one year ago. Missouri-based LeaderOne Financial recorded 11 loans in July after recording only a single endorsement in June, observing 208% endorsement growth in 2020 year-to-date.

Lunde previously detailed for RMD that the HECM Originators report is useful in seeing the splits in and health of the retail versus wholesale channels, which helps to illustrate how lenders are doing from a more individualized and channel-specific perspective.

Read the HECM Originators report at RMI for specific breakdowns and regional performance data.