Originators of reverse mortgages — including government-insured loans and proprietary loans — successfully lifted the number of units closed in the final month of 2015.
Home-equity conversion mortgages originated by retail loan officers represented 2,524 of the 4,229 endorsements by the Federal Housing Administration in December.
Retail HECM production was greater than in the previous month, when FHA endorsed 2,467 reverse mortgages that were generated through retail mortgage originators.
But retail activity has subsided from the final month of 2014, when 2,867 retail-originated HECMs were endorsed.
Reverse Market Insight reported the data.
For all of 2015, retail HECM endorsements amounted to 31,878,
more than the 29,838 in full-year 2014 production.
Wholesale originations accounted for 1,705 of December 2015’s HECM endorsements.
Wholesale volume climbed from 1,553 a month earlier but fell short of the 2,073 a year earlier.
Last year’s wholesale volume came to 24,485 endorsements. As was the case on the retail side, wholesale business grew from 2014, when the total was
23,111.
An analysis of RMI data indicates that Finance of America Reverse LLC originated 227 proprietary reverse mortgages during the most-recent month — more than the 182 loans it funded in November and the most proprietary reverse mortgages closed among all the lenders surveyed.
No. 2 RMS/Security One Lending funded 88 reverse mortgages in December, up from the prior month’s 49 units.
Up next was American Advisors Group, where volume inched up to 85 loans from 78 in November.
After that was 74 proprietary loans originated by Cherry Creek Mortgage Co., an improvement over November’s 59 closings.
No. 5 was Live Well Financial Inc., which originated 70 proprietary reverse mortgages in December of last year. But unlike its top-five counterparts, business slowed from November, when it funded 90 loans.
