HECM Endorsement Analytics – March 2020

HUD’s March 2020 HECM Endorsement Summary Report shows a total of 2,913 endorsements, 14% lower than last month’s 3,386, despite rates heading still lower again. Our summary report can be found here: NV Endorsement 2020_03.

Among the big movers, AAG endorsed 799 loans, up 16% from last month’s 691 loans. Liberty Reverse Mortgage endorsed 235 loans, less than half of last month’s 582 unit count. Mutual of Omaha Mortgage’s endorsement count also slipped, from 177 to 135 units month over month.

HUD’s February Endorsement Snapshot Report is now available on its website. Liberty sponsored 595 loans originated by another lender. FAR, RMF, and AGG followed behind with 399, 236, and 137 loans, respectively. Fairway sold 150 loans to another sponsor, more any other month during the past 12 months. Ennkar continued to be a strong seller again this month with 68 loans.

Of course, the current reports barely reflect any impact the Coronavirus pandemic will have on reverse mortgage originations starting in mid-March. Lending activities have stalled, and the secondary market has pulled back for HMBS, HREMIC, and related transactions. Expect materially weaker prints in the coming months.

New View Advisors continues to offer its Who Buys What From Whom (WBWFW) report as part of this endorsement report subscription. The report compiles publicly available Ginnie Mae data to show which HMBS issuers buy HECMs from which lenders. The WBWFW spreadsheet includes:

• Top Originators – a ranking by original HECM UPB of all lenders over the last twelve months
• WBWFW – an alphabetical cross-reference between every lender and the HMBS issuer that securitizes its loans
• Top 100 Trends – a breakdown of loan sales by month, by Top-100 lender, by HMBS issuer.

Edited samples from this month’s WBWFW report are at the end of our endorsement writeup. These reports together provide accurate insight for sales and marketing teams to learn just who’s buying what from whom. The dataset is more complete and timely than what endorsement analysis alone can show.