Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsements fell by 9.4% in the month of November 2020, for a total of 3,390 loans according to the latest HECM Originators report from Reverse Market Insight (RMI). The fall 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 volume drops in both business segments for the month stood at over 9%, but the drop on the retail segment slightly led drops in wholesale endorsements. Retail saw a 9.5% reduction in volume, while wholesale saw a slightly less severe fall of 9.2%. The difference in the drop on the wholesale side when compared with October figures shows a comparable performance dip, but the 9.5% retail drop for November is much more severe than the 1% retail drop seen the prior month.
Still, while the drop between both business channels was comparable in November, four of the top 10 reverse mortgage lenders in the country saw growth for the month. That growth was led primarily by HighTechLending, which saw a 71.4% volume increase to 96 loans. Mutual of Omaha Mortgage saw a less pronounced but still notable 10.5% increase to 263 loans, continuing a solid streak of performance for the latter part of 2020.
Industry leader American Advisors Group (AAG) also managed to grow its endorsements for the month of November, recording 1,295 loans translating to an increase of 3.1%. The increases of the top 10 were rounded out by Liberty Reverse Mortgage, which saw a 2.9% increase for the month to a total of 317 loans.
Finance of America Reverse (FAR) once again took the top spot in monthly wholesale rankings, followed by Liberty Reverse Mortgage, Reverse Mortgage Funding (RMF), AAG and Longbridge Financial, respectively.
While still technically the 9th largest reverse mortgage lender by volume over the 12 months ending in November, the now-shuttered One Reverse Mortgage has not recorded any endorsements since May according to the data.
RMI President John 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.
