Reverse mortgage volume picked up some lost ground in June with endorsements rising 3.4% to 3,771 loans—finally putting an end to three consecutive months of declining volumes, according to the latest industry data tracked by Reverse Market Insight (RMI).
The slight increase in June is a welcoming reprieve from the trend of plummeting volume over the last several months, especially after endorsements tanked in May, dropping 14% to 3,646 loans—one of the lowest single-month totals in recent history.
“June was a nice little bump, but not close to recovering some of the recent declines,” RMI President John Lunde told RMD. “We have seen modest weakness in applications and case numbers issued for April and May, so I’d hesitate to call an end to the declines we’ve been seeing on the endorsement side quite yet.”
While it remains to be seen if next month’s numbers will sustain this moderate growth, June was a productive month for the majority of top-10 regions and lenders tracked by RMI.
Eight of the 10 U.S. regions reported increases during the month, with only the Mid-Atlantic and New England reporting endorsement declines of 8.5% and 20%, respectively.
The Southwest saw the largest increase in its monthly volume, rebounding 14.2% to 459 endorsements in June, after suffering a nearly 20% monthly decline in May. The region was joined by the Rocky Mountain area, which reported 9% growth in volume, and the Great Plains, which reported 76 units in June, reflecting a 7% increase from the prior month.
June gains were more volatile among the top-10 industry lenders, with six companies growing their endorsements over May.
HighTechLending, Inc. saw a 52.9% bump in its volume in June with 159 loans, bringing the company’s trailing 12-month endorsement total to 1,073 units. Year-to-date, the company ranks ninth among all lenders with 618 units through June.
Synergy One Lending (doing business as Retirement Funding Solutions) boosted its endorsement volume 22% during the month to 183 units. This now brings the company’s year-to-date HECM volume to 941 total units thus far in 2016.
Ranking second year-to-date with 2,026 total HECM endorsements, Liberty Home Equity Solutions reported 272 units in June, a 20.9% monthly increase that propelled the company to the number three spot in the rankings.
To see where other lenders ranked through June 2016, view the Reverse Market Insight report.
Written by Jason Oliva
