Wholesale reverse mortgage activity tumbled, and no reverse mortgage wholesale lender has asserted itself as the dominant leader — with four different wholesalers grabbing the title during the past six months. As third-party originations fell by nearly half at one reverse wholesaler, business nearly doubled at another.
Based on retail and wholesale originations, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., was the biggest reverse mortgage lender during February, Reverse Market Insight reported today. Volume was 1,466 loans, higher than 1,322 in January.
Production at No. 2 Bank of America, N.A., declined to 1,326 from 1,509, while Generation Mortgage Co. came in third, with closings climbing to 1,043 loans from January’s 779.
No. 4 Urban Financial Group pushed volume to 900 in February from 550. Knight Capital Group Inc. said last month that it is acquiring Tulsa, Okla.-based Urban.
MetLife Bank closed 708 loans, down from 1,333, making it the fifth biggest reverse mortgage lender during February.
On a wholesale-only basis, reverse mortgage lenders closed 3,890 loans in February, tumbling from 4,450 in January. Third-party originations were also worse than 4,773 in February 2009.
February 2010’s biggest wholesaler was Generation, which closed 785 wholesale loans in February, higher than January’s 604. Since September 2009 — BoA, Financial Freedom Acquis. and MetLife have held the biggest wholesaler title in addition to Generation.
BoA followed as the next biggest wholesaler in February, with third-party business falling to 682 from 783 in January, then Urban, where wholesale volume climbed to 612 loans from 475.
No. 4 MetLife saw wholesale activity plunge to 571 loans from 1,052 loans a month earlier. The fifth biggest wholesale reverse mortgage lender, Genworth, closed 397 reverse mortgages — nearly doubling the 211 closed in January.
