While retail originators of federally insured reverse mortgages made production gains last year, wholesale lenders struggled to keep up. As three formerly prominent players exited the reverse lending arena, two firms have established themselves as the new retail and wholesale leaders.
Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., exited the reverse lending arena with a bang.
The company, which last June said it would stop originating home-equity conversion mortgages, saw 15,673 retail and wholesale HECMs endorsed by the Federal Housing Administration during all of 2011 — more than any other lender. A year earlier, Wells originated 17,419 HECMs.
The production was based on an analysis of data reported by Reverse Market Insight.
MetLife Bank ranked No. 2, with annual production climbing to 13,593 from 10,830 loans endorsed in 2010.
Next was Urban Financial Group’s 7,884 HECMs, then 6,251 at Generation Mortgage Co.
Bank of America, N.A., which exited the business in February 2011, was No. 5 last year with 5,036 HECMs endorsed.
A year earlier, former IndyMac subsidiary Financial Freedom ranked among the top-10 originators with 3,314 HECMs endorsed. But Financial Freedom, a subsidiary of OneWest Bank, ended operations in March 2011.
A new order has MetLife as the biggest HECMÂ originator, with total volume edging up to 1,435 endorsements in December from 1,421 a month earlier.
The next-biggest lender, Urban Financial, barely reached half of MetLife’s production level, with its business jumping to 720 units from 597.
Genworth Financial Home Equity followed with 448 endorsements in December, then One Reverse Mortgage LLC’s 419 loans and Generation’s 409.
Retail HECMÂ originations from all lenders totaled 2,676 loans during December, one more than the prior month. Retail business has tumbled, though, from 4,343 in December 2010.
Retail loan originations accounted for 42,036 of last year’s total 68,566 total HECMÂ endorsements, more than the 39,190 retail endorsements in 2010.
But wholesale production fell to 1,891 HECMs originated from 1,978 in November of last year and 2,207 in December 2010. Annual wholesale HECMs endorsed fell to 26,530 from the previous year’s 33,493 endorsements.
Among wholesale operators, Urban Financial’s 363 loans were the most originated by any lender in December. Urban, which closed 313 wholesale loans during November, has been the biggest HECMÂ wholesaler each month since September 2011.
No. 2 Generation Mortgage had 200 HECMs endorsed, falling from 251 wholesale fundings a month earlier.
Genworth was third with 142 wholesale endorsements, then 114 at MetLife and five at Security One.
