HUD’s October 2019 HECM Endorsement Summary Report shows a total of 3,296 endorsements; it is a 36% increase from September’s 2,420 endorsements. Our summary can be found here: NV Endorsement 2019_10. Other than in February 2019, when the market recovered from the year-end slowdown and reached over 4,000 endorsements, October’s endorsement count is the strongest since May 2018. Part of the increase in volume can be attributed to lower interest rates. Now that interest rate declines have stalled, it remains to be seen if higher endorsement volume will continue.
Based on annual endorsement count, the ranking of the top 15 originators changed only slightly. Most notably, Open Mortgage had 108 endorsements in October. It is the first time Open Mortgage has exceeded 100 endorsements since 2018Q1.
HUD released its September and October Endorsement Snapshot Reports simultaneously. The reports show that Finance of America Reverse sponsored 288 and 273 loans originated by another lender in September and October, respectively, maintaining its lead in this category. American Advisors Group sponsored 200 such loans in October. That’s the highest number American Advisors Group has produced since February 2018. Fairway sold 99 and 103 loans to another sponsor in September and October, still by far the most active seller of HECM closed loans.
HUD’s Snapshot Report breaks down endorsements by type. From 2016 to the beginning of 2018, between 10% and 20% of HECM endorsements were for refinance. From March 2018 until August 2019, that percentage dropped to approximately 5% per month. However, during the last two months, HECM Refinance endorsement count has crept back to more than 10% of total endorsement volume.
New View Advisors released its October update of the Who Buys What From Whom (WBWFW) report. As a reminder, the WBWFW report compiles publicly available Ginnie Mae data to show which HMBS issuers buy HECMs from which lenders. One of the reports displays loans sales by month, by top 100 lender, by HMBS issuer. The October update shows that over the past 12 months, 63% of total origination/securitization volume was sold from originators to HMBS Issuers. Only 37% was originated and securitized by the same company. Of those loans that exchanged hands, 70% were sold by the top 100 sellers, and 20% were sold by the top 2 sellers. The total trade volume from the Top 100 list took a dip in September, with $98 million HECMs originated, sold, and securitized, the lowest total in the last 12 months. August was the high water mark, with over $178 million HECMs originated, sold, and securitized.
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