Reverse mortgage volume dropped -1.7% in March, but that volume decline was spread unevenly throughout the country, as some regions fared better than others, according to the latest Reverse Market Insight (RMI) report.
“The regions faring best of late have been those with one or both of these themes: faster home price rises than national averages, and higher [home equity conversion mortgage] refinance activity,” says RMI President John K. Lunde. “To a certain extent, the latter is a follow-on effect from the first.”
California and Florida continue to lead the year-to-date volume growth, and represent the only states to show growth over last year so far. In March, California’s growth rate increased to 7.3%, while Florida’s rise slowed slightly from February’s 16% to 15.9%.
However, HECM endorsements in New York and Pennsylvania both fell even faster in March, with New York crashing into the double digits with a weak March performance showing -10.6% growth.
Virginia, on the other hand, chopped its year-to-date decline rate in February in half, from -25.6% to -12.7% in March.
Overall, reverse mortgage volume has been off to a rocky start this year, but endorsements are still showing upward growth over last year.
“Endorsements volumes have been dropping from the recent high in December — which was partly fueled by refinance activity due to August PLF change — but are still higher than the average from last year,” Lunde says.
View the latest Revers Market Insight data.
Written by Emily Study
