Proprietary reverse mortgage lenders lifted activity in the final month of last year. Government-insured business improved for both the retail and wholesale channels.
Retail originations accounted for 2,887 of the 4,940 home-equity conversion mortgages endorsed by the Federal Housing Administration during December.
The production statistics were reported in the newsletter Reverse Market Insight.
Retail endorsements picked up from the previous month, when 2,500 HECMs were closed.
They were also better than in the final month of 2013, when the number was 2,594.
For the entire year, FHA endorsed 29,838 HECMs generated through the retail channel.
In the wholesale arena, HECM endorsements rose to 2,073 from 1,907 in November and 1,629 in December 2013.
Full-year HECM endorsements through the wholesale channel amounted to 23,111.
Among the top 11 mortgage firms that originate proprietary reverse mortgages,
originations were up 28 percent between November and December.
Urban Financial Group topped the list in December with 217 loans closed. Proprietary activity at Urban moved up from 196 a month earlier.
Next was Liberty Home Equity Solutions Inc., where volume fell to 128 proprietary loans from 154 in November.
After that was Cherry Creek Mortgage Co., which lifted activity to 113 units in the final month of last year from just 90.
Reverse Mortgage Funding LLC followed with 112 closings, more than the 81 proprietary reverse mortgages originated in November.
No. 5 RMS/Security One Lending saw proprietary volume rise by 14 units to 99 during the most recent month.
