While reverse mortgage volume edged higher on a monthly basis, the gain in proprietary activity was far less than with government-insured business. The disparity carried over into year-over-year performance.
Retail originators were responsible for 2,248 of the 3,762 home-equity conversion mortgages endorsed by Federal Housing Administration in September.
Retail production improved from 1,944 HECMs endorsed the previous month but came up short compared to the 2,735 FHA-insured reverse mortgages closed in September 2013.
Historical data from Reverse Market Insight, which provided the numbers, indicates that retail HECM volume was 21,698 endorsements from Jan. 1 through Sept. 30 of this year.
On the wholesale side, HECM production increased to 1,514 from 1,306 in August. As was the case for the retail channel, wholesale endorsements fell from the same month last year, when 1,782 HECMs closed.
Year-to-date Sept. 30 wholesale endorsements were 17,053 units.
September’s proprietary reverse mortgage originations at companies surveyed by Reverse Market Insight rose 3 percent from a month earlier but sank 38 percent versus a year earlier.
Proprietary activity fared poorly compared to HECM volume, which jumped 18 percent from August and was down only12 percent from September 2013.
The biggest proprietary reverse mortgage lender was Liberty Home Equity Solutions Inc., where the 180 loans closed more than doubled August’s 72 closings.
No. 2 Urban Financial Group saw proprietary volume slip to 118 in September from 122 loans the previous month.
American Advisors Group followed with 98 proprietary reverse mortgage closings in September, then Generation Mortgage Co.’s 62 loans and Cherry Creek Mortgage Co.’s 60 units.
