Last year’s largest originator of federally insured reverse mortgages was a subsidiary of Walter Investment Management Corp. A month-over-month downturn for the industry as a whole was offset by a year-over-year gain.
December 2013 finished with 4,223 home-equity conversion mortgages having been endorsed by the Federal Housing Administration, Reverse Market Insight reported.
HECM production was lower than in the prior month, when 4,690 loans were endorsed.
Business has improved, however, from December 2012, when HECM endorsements totaled 3,912, according to historical data.
During the year ended Dec. 31, 2013, there were 61,122 HECMs endorsed by FHA.
Annual activity improved from the previous year’s 52,992 endorsements.
Last year’s biggest HECM originator was Security One Lending-Reverse Mortgage Solutions, where 7,536 reverse mortgages were originated. Business at the Walter Investment-subsidiary nearly doubled compared to the 3,842 HECMs endorsed in 2012.
Security One was also the biggest lender in December with 676 HECM endorsements. Volume picked up from the prior month’s 564.
The second-biggest HECM originator in 2013 was American Advisors Group, where activity leapt to 7,413 endorsements from the previous year’s 3,690.
American Advisors was No.. 2 during December even as production fell to 621 HECMs from 683 a month earlier.
Ocwen Financial Corp.-subsidiary Liberty Home Equity Solutions Inc. came in third for 2013, with endorsements climbing to 6,664 from 4,712 a year earlier.
December volume of only 175 at Liberty plummeted from 471 the prior month and landed it in the fifth position last month.
Last year’s No. 4, Quicken Loans Inc.-subsidiary One Reverse Mortgage LLC, closed 5,405 FHA-insured reverse mortgages, up from 4,803 in 2012.
On a monthly basis, One Reverse was the third-biggest originator, with volume dropping to 376 units from 475 in November.
Urban Financial Group rounded out the 2013 top five with HECM endorsements rising to 3,953 from the previous year’s 3,417. Urban was the fourth-largest HECM originator in December with 211 closings.
Active HECM lenders numbered 543 last month, off from 560 the prior year.
