Reverse mortgage originations fell last month — though the biggest lender managed a gain.
Reverse mortgage lenders closed 8,772 home-equity conversion mortgages during October, according to the newsletter Reverse Market Insight. Volume declined from 9,473 units in September and sank from 10,121 HECMs closed during October 2008.
So far this year, 95,902 reverse mortgages have been funded.
Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., maintained its grip on the top retail spot, closing 1,594 HECMs last month. In September, the San Francisco-based bank closed 1,282 retail reverse mortgages.
The No. 2 retail HECM lender was Bank of America, N.A., which saw volume fall to 872 from September’s 1,046.
Next was MetLife Bank, where retail reverse mortgage production climbed to 416 in October from just 215 the prior month.
With 348 HECMs funded, Financial Freedom was the fourth biggest retail reverse lender. The OneWest Bank FSB subsidiary closed 478 loans during September.
