The company that originates the most government-insured reverse mortgages saw a steep drop in monthly business, though that wasn’t the case for all originators. In the wholesale lending arena, the title of top reverse originator was handed to the fourth lender since December.
At the biggest originator of home-equity conversion mortgages, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., April production of 1,317 HECMs plummeted from 2,125 in March, based on data reported by Reverse Market Insight.
But at No. 2 Bank of America, N.A. — which is exiting the reverse lending business — volume climbed to 1,164 endorsements from 1,040 the prior month.
MetLife Bank’s business was off, with April ending at 843 fundings versus 1,071 in March.
Urban Financial Group landed the fourth spot at 675 HECM closings, then Generation Mortgage Co.’s 468. Only Urban managed a gain from a month earlier.
HECMs are reverse mortgages that are insured by the Federal Housing Administration.
Retail originators closed 3,704 HECMs during April, falling from 4,515 the prior month. But retail activity was stronger than 2,692 closings in April 2010.
Wholesalers saw production drop to 2,415 HECMs from March’s 2,785 and from 2,813 during April 2010.
The top wholesaler was Urban Financial, where HECM endorsements totaled 447, up from 425 wholesale originations in March.
Urban stole the No. 1 wholesale title from Generation, which fell to No. 5 with 225 HECMs originated.
The second-biggest wholesaler, BofA, dropped production to 268 units from 302 closings in March. No. 3 was Genworth Financial with 234 wholesale HECMs, then MetLife’s 227.
In addition to Urban and Generation — Genworth and MetLife have topped the wholesale ranking at least one month since December 2010.
