Two states—California and Arizona—have produced the lion’s share of the year-to-date 8.1% overall growth in reverse mortgage endorsements, according to Reverse Market Insight’s most recent HECM Trends newsletter.

“February HECM endorsements came in right between 2012 and 2013 volumes for the month, but we’re likely to see monthly totals below the 2012 [levels] for several months before this year is over,” says RMI.

Seven of the top 10 states for reverse mortgage endorsements have seen their volume decline so far in 2014, including #2 ranked Texas, down 10.3%.

“The good news is that there are always places around the country showing growth no matter how bad the national trends might look,” RMI said in the newsletter, as huge increases in two of the three growth states have kept overall endorsement numbers positive.

California’s volume has jumped 44.7% so far in 2014, keeping it the #1 state for endorsements with 1,911. Eighth-ranked Arizona has seen endorsements climb 42.8% to 307. New Jersey notched 9.1% growth for 371 reverse loans.

San Diego and Miami are among the cities with “impressive” showings so far this year, RMI notes, with 81% and 47% volume growth, respectively.

April 22nd, 2014