The production of government-insured reverse mortgages fell last month, has been down for three consecutive months and hasn’t been this slow since last year. At the biggest lender, however, new business moved higher.
The volume of home-equity conversion mortgages endorsed by the Federal Housing Administration amounted to 4,188 loans in October.
HECM originations slowed from 4,527 endorsements in September and have been lower each month since July 2013, when FHA endorsed 5,756 reverse mortgages.
Based on historical data from Reverse Market Insight, which provided the statistics, the last time HECM production was this low was in December 2012 — a month that FHA endorsed 3,912 HECMs.
One positive development was that FHA was busier than in October 2012, when just 3,745 HECMs were endorsed.
During the 10 months ended Oct. 31, HECM volume totaled 52,209 units.
The biggest HECM originator in October 2013 was American Advisors Group, where volume climbed to 801 endorsements from the previous month’s 773.
A distant second was Security One Lending-RMS, which saw production tumble to 442 HECMs from 604 in September.
One Reverse Mortgage LLC originated 407 HECMs, landing it the third spot. Business at the Quicken Loans Inc. subsidiary declined from 452 a month earlier.
No. 4 Urban Financial Group closed 308 HECMs in October, seven more than the previous month.
Liberty Home Equity Solutions Inc. generated 257 HECM endorsements, fewer than September’s volume of 407 and landing it in the fifth spot.
There were 529 HECM lenders that were active in October, down by 20 from last year.
