After reaching the lowest level on record, the origination of federally insured reverse mortgages by wholesale lenders fell again. Even retail-originated business deteriorated.
Factoring in retail and wholesale originations, MetLife Bank became the biggest originator of home-equity conversion mortgages during October. The Federal Housing Administration endorsed 1,011 HECMs for MetLife. But business fell from 1,326 HECMs closed by MetLife the previous month.
The statistics were compiled and reported by Reverse Market Insight.
Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., closed 789 reverse mortgages, falling by nearly half from September and landing it in the No. 2 spot. Wells Fargo is in the process of winding down its reverse lending unit.
At Urban Financial Group, HECM endorsements amounted to 565 in October, fewer than the 612 loans closed a month earlier.
Generation Mortgage Co. followed with 501 HECMs endorsed by FHA in October, then 446 at One Reverse Mortgage LLC.
The industry as a whole generated 3,032 HECM endorsements through retail loan originators during in October. Volume was down from 3,612 the prior month but still better than the 2,976 HECMs endorsed in the same month last year.
Wholesale lenders saw HECM production fall to 1,612 from September’s 1,972. The latest total was the lowest since Reverse Market Insight began reporting the numbers in April 2008.
Wholesale originations were 2,307 in October 2010.
The biggest wholesale lender was Urban Financial, where October endorsements drifted down to 264 units from 268 HECM loans endorsed a month earlier.
No. 2 was Generation, which saw 213 HECMs endorsed versus 223 in September.
After that were 98 HECM endorsements at MetLife, 94 closings at Genworth Financial Home Equity and 12 wholesale HECM originations at Security One Lending.
