“Overall
industry
weakness
continues
to
remain
a
concern,
and
the
short
shutdown
early
in
the
month
is
another
possible
reason,
but
it
also
brings
to
mind
a
larger
issue
that
non-HECM
reverse
mortgage
loans
are
nibbling
at
the
edges
of
HECM
volume
more
directly
these
days
than
ever
before,”
RMI
explained.

Meanwhile,


New
View
Advisors
said
that
February’s
endorsement
count
is
the
lowest
since
the
early
days
of
the
COVID-19
pandemic,
when
just
1,601
endorsements
were
recorded
in
April
2020.

Comprehensive
data
on
the
impact
of

proprietary
reverse
mortgage
products
is
not
publicly
available,
leaving
analysts
to
rely
largely
on
anecdotal
accounts
and
market
observations.

Regionally,
no
area
posted
gains
in
February.
The
New
York/New
Jersey
region,
however,
recorded
the
smallest
decline,
slipping
1%
to
100
loan
endorsements.
The
Midwest
followed
with
a
3.3%
decrease
to
174
loans.
All
other
regions
posted
declines
of
at
least
11.4%,
with
the
Northwest/Alaska
region
falling
by
37.4%.

Among
the
top
10
lenders,
all
reported
lower
endorsement
totals.


Finance
of
America
saw
the
smallest
drop
among
the
group,
declining
8.5%
to
364
loans.


Longbridge
Financial
followed
with
a
9%
decrease
to
304
loans,
while
the
eight
other
largest
lenders
posted
declines
ranging
from
15.9%
to
49.6%.

HMBS
issuance
dips

New
View
Advisors
also
reported
that
the
issuance
of
HECM
Mortgage-Backed
Securities
(HMBS)
declined
in
February,
falling
to
$431
million
during
the
month.
That’s
down
$103
million
from

January’s
revised
total
of
$534
million
and
$39
million
lower
than
the
$470
million
issued
in
February
2025.

A
total
of
66
pools
were
issued,
five
fewer
than
in
January.

February’s
$431
million
total
marks
the
lowest
monthly
issuance
in
the
past
two
years,
the
second
lowest
since
2014
and
the
third
lowest
since
2009,
New
View
reported.

Among
issuers,
Finance
of
America
led
the
market
with
$140
million
in
February
issuance,
down
$15
million
from
its
$155
million
total
in
January.
Longbridge
Financial
followed
with
$104
million,
a
decline
of
$38
million
month
over
month.


Mutual
of
Omaha
Mortgage
issued
$83
million,
down
$12
million
from
January,
while


PHH
Mortgage
Corp.
issued
$66
million,
a
monthly
drop
of
$23
million.

Original,
or
first
participation,
production
totaled
$260
million
in
February,
down
$97
million
from
January’s
$357
million
figure
and
$43
million
below
the
February
2025
figure
of
$303
million.

Through
the
first
two
months
of
2026,
Finance
of
America
led
first
participation
issuance
at
$179
million,
followed
by
Longbridge
at
$165
million,
Mutual
of
Omaha
at
$120
million
and
PHH
at
$85
million.

Of
the
66
pools
issued
in
February,
16
were
first
participation
pools,
and
48
were
tail
pools,
which
consist
of
subsequent
participations
rather
than
new
loans.
Tail
issuance
totaled
$169
million,
compared
with
$176
million
in
January.

Twenty-one
pools
had
balances
of
less
than
$1
million,
reflecting
issuer
use
of

Ginnie
Mae’s
provision
that
allows
pools
as
small
as
$250,000.
In
addition,
$49.7
million
in
participations
pooled
during
the
month
involved
multiple
participations
from
the
same
loan,
a
practice
permitted
under
2023
guidance.

The
data
was
compiled
by
New
View
Advisors
using
publicly
available
Ginnie
Mae
data
and
private
sources.