Some lenders have seen huge gains this year in their retail endorsement volume, reports Reverse Market Insight’s HECM Originators report, with American Advisors Group growing 115.1% and MetLife up 90.1% so far.

However, while total endorsement growth in the reverse mortgage industry was up 5.3% in August, according to the report, there’s a widening disparity between retail and wholesale channels.

In previous reports, RMI pointed out the “relatively narrow performance gap” between retail and wholesale volumes, but they have diverged significantly, with retail up 10.5%, and wholesale shrinking 2.8%. This is the largest gap since February, says RMI, although it’s not sure what’s causing the change, or if it will continue.

Source: Reverse Market Insight, HECM Originators Report 2011

In addition to AAG’s and MetLife’s retail contributions, One Reverse, Generation Mortgage and Genworth Financial have all grown 20% or more so far this year, while Security One wholesale has increased 38.8%, with Urban up 6.5%. First National Bank of Layton has been busy, too, RMI notes, steadily climbing the ranks to 9th place in August, with a year-to-date growth of 525.7%.

Click here to view the HECM Originators report.

Written by Alyssa Gerace