Reverse mortgage volume for both the wholesale and retail sectors saw a decline from August to September and endorsements as a whole fell by 14.6%, according to recent industry data tracked by Reverse Market Insight.

Wholesale home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) volume saw a decrease of 21.6% to 1,519 loans in September from 1,938 loans in August, the latest RMI HECM Originators report shows. These numbers mirror the low loan volume seen in June and July.

On the retail side, HECM volume dropped a little less by 9.1% from last month to 2,219 loans, compared to 2,440 loans in August.

The decline was consistent for most lenders, including those that saw big jumps in August. Reverse Mortgage Funding (RMF), High Tech Lending and Finance of America Reverse (FAR) each saw double digit percentage declines during the month, after large upswings in the previous month. This may be because most of the August gains were due to endorsement backlogs getting cleared out, RMI suggests in its report.

From August to September, RMF dropped from 696 to 344 loans, High Tech Lending saw a decrease from 137 to 119 loans and FAR went from 853 to 532 loans.

Other lenders among the top 10 in the nation that saw sharp decreases in September include RMS/Security One Lending, which fell from 102 to 60 loans and Synergy One Lending, which fell from 215 loans to 181 loans.

Among the decreases, however, there were a few of the top 10 lenders that saw a slight uptick from August to September. American Advisors Group (AAG) saw a small increase from 930 to 938 loans and Liberty Home Equity Solutions jumped from 220 loans in August to 320 in September.

Written by Alana Stramowski