Reverse mortgage production fell for the fourth consecutive month and has fallen by more than half from a year ago. The leading retail reverse lender closed more than twice as many reverse mortgages as No. 2.
April originations were 5,511 loans, Reverse Market Insight reported. Reverse volume was 5,822 a month earlier and 11,660 a year earlier.
Reverse mortgage fundings have fallen each month since December, when 8,284 loans were closed. It was the slowest month since at least 2008 based on available data.
From Jan. 1 to April 30, reverse mortgage volume totaled 25,986.
Last month’s biggest retail reverse lender was Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., where 1,179 reverse mortgages were closed. Wells closed 1,079 loans in March.
Bank of America, N.A., trailed with 465 units, down from 558, then One Reverse Mortgage LLC, which saw fundings fall to 261 from 318.
No. 4 Urban Financial Group saw activity drop to 206 reverse mortgages from 212, while No. 5 MetLife Bank pushed volume to 180 from 142.
There were 1,658 active reverse mortgage lenders in April, down from 2,204 last year, Reverse Market Insight reported.