Last month, a single reverse mortgage lender was responsible for more than a quarter of all reverse mortgages that were federally endorsed.
Reverse mortgage originators obtained endorsements from the Federal Housing Administration on 3,762 home-equity conversion mortgages in September, Reverse Market Insight reported.
While activity picked up from July, when there were 3,256 HECMÂ endorsements, that was the slowest month since November 2008.
FHA endorsed 4,527 HECMs in September of last year:
From Jan. 1, 2014, through Sept. 30, 2014, FHAÂ endorsed 38,550 HECMs.
For all of fiscal-year 2014, 51,651 HECMs were endorsed by FHA.
By a long shot, American Advisors Group was the biggest HECM originator in September. Endorsements climbed to 1,050 from 779 in August. Its September activity accounted for 28 percent of all HECM endorsements that month.
A distant second was One Reverse Mortgage LLC, where volume inched up three units from August to 395.
After that was Liberty Home Equity Solutions Inc., where volume more than doubled to 372 in September.
No. 4 RMS/Security One Lending generated 219 HECMÂ endorsements last month, and Urban Financial of America LLC was responsible for 209.
In all, there were 461 active lenders last month, a few more than in August but off more significantly compared to 523 a year earlier.
