The reverse mortgage industry ended the first quarter of 2011 on a high note, growing for the first time on a year over year basis since July 2009 according to data from Reverse Market Insight.
During March, lenders endorsed 7,306 HECM units, up 5.8% from the previous month and an increase of 25.5% from 2010.
“It takes more than one month to change the tone of our industry, but we’ve been on the long road back for almost a year now since the May 2010 low point for endorsements,” said John Lunde, President of RMI. “And while the majority of industry declines were clearly related to principal limit cuts in October 2010, it’s worth noting that other factors started the decline before that as housing markets and interest rates took their toll.”
The growth was spread around the country with 8 of the 10 regions tracked seeing an increase in volume said RMI.
Active lenders took a dive during the month, losing 68 lenders, down 9.3% from the previous month.
View a copy of the report here.
