Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsements fell sharply in August, even as a handful of reverse mortgage lenders continued to dominate the market.
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured 2,062 HECMs in August, according to data compiled by New View Advisors that was released on Wednesday. That marked a 13% decline from July and the lowest monthly total since February.
The slowdown came as the market remained heavily concentrated among just three firms. Mutual of Omaha Mortgage led all lenders with 460 loans in August and a 23% market share over the past 12 months. Finance of America (FOA) followed with 402 loans, while Longbridge Financial logged 306.
Together, the three companies accounted for about 61% of all HECM endorsements between September 2024 and August 2025, according to New View’s analysis.
Regionally, California’s Santa Ana Homeownership Center — which oversees much of the western U.S. — continued to lead the nation with 699 endorsements in August. That was down from recent peaks but still well ahead of the Atlanta and Philadelphia centers, which logged a respective 497 and 427 endorsements during the month.
Wholesale activity continued to drive HECM volume. Among the most active wholesale sponsors — referring to entities that sponsored loans originated by another party — Longbridge Financial took the top spot, sponsoring 3,358 such loans in the past year. It was followed by FOA with 2,518 loans.
While there was no August 2025 data available for the wholesale sponsor portion of the report, the latest available data from June showed FOA in the lead with 242 loans.
In a separate report from New View Advisors released on Tuesday, HECM Mortgage-Backed Securities (HMBS) issuance also cooled in August, falling to $502 million. That’s down $39 million from July’s figure of $541 million. There were 75 pools issued, four fewer than in July.
FOA was the top issuer in August with $152 million, which was a decrease of $3 million from July. Issuance from Longbridge was $111 million, down $3 million from July, while Mutual of Omaha’s $98 million in issuance was down by $7 million.
PHH Mortgage Corp. issued $87 million, which represented a $21 million decrease from July’s figure of $108 million. The Ginnie Mae-controlled Reverse Mortgage Funding portfolio again issued no HMBS pools, New View reported.
First-participation HMBS production totaled $322 million in August, down from $343 million in July and $350 million in June. Last month’s 75 pools included 18 original pools, 55 tail pools and two mixed pools. Original pools are HMBS pools backed by first participations in previously uncertificated HECM loans, while tail HMBS issuances are HMBS pools consisting of subsequent participations.
Tail issuance totaled $179 million, down from $197 million in July.
Notable in the August HMBS issuance data are 19 pools with aggregate pool sizes of less than $1 million, made possible by Ginnie Mae’s rule allowing pools as small as $250,000. This represents $8.7 million of unpaid principal balance (UPB) that may not otherwise have been issued in August.
Ginnie Mae also issued APM 23-11 in 2023, which allows participations from the same loan to be pooled more than once in the same month. Such pools accounted for $58.1 million in August, including $2.6 million in first participations.
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