Atlantic Avenue posts 25% monthly gain, leads HECM broker endorsements in April

Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsements for April showed that the nation’s top brokerages continued to originate federally insured reverse mortgages at higher or similar levels to their pace over the past year. That’s according to data released this week by Reverse Market Insight (RMI) and published by HECMWorld.com.

Atlantic Avenue Mortgage remained on top of the monthly rankings of brokers and third-party originators, endorsing 110 HECMs in April. That represents a 25% increase from March. It’s also 34% above the company’s 12-month rolling average of 82 endorsements, and its rolling total for the past year jumped to 978 — up from 938 for the year ending in March.

loanDepot remained at No. 2 in the rankings, adding 43 loans in April to push its 12-month rolling total to 456. Caliver Beach Mortgage (393) and C2 Financial Corp. (178) followed. West Capital Lending jumped to the No. 5 position, adding 19 loans in April for a rolling 12-month total of 168.

The rest of the top 10 across the past year includes Carrington Mortgage Services (139), Senior Lending Corp. (138), Barrett Financial Group (134), Integrity 1st Mortgage (122) and NEXA Lending (118).

Direct endorsement data for June, released earlier this month by RMI, showed that HECM origination activity across the nation’s top 100 lenders was up 6% from May 2026 but down 9.8% on a year-to-date basis.

The top five direct lenders last month were Finance of America (481), Longbridge Financial (407), Mutual of Omaha Mortgage (398), Fairway Home Mortgage (112) and South River Mortgage (74).

Declining volume in the HECM space is a well-documented issue that dates back several years. According to Federal Housing Administration (FHA) data republished by the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association, HECM endorsements have dropped from a peak of 114,692 in fiscal year 2009 to 28,172 in FY 2025. Last year’s total was the lowest in 22 years.

The trend has coincided with growing demand for proprietary reverse mortgages. According to data from New View Advisors, the origination volume of private-label loans ($953 million) surpassed that of HECMs ($875 million) during the first quarter of 2026.

Gabe Bodner of One Trust Home Loans recently told HousingWire’s Reverse Mortgage Daily that his company’s product mix has shifted significantly in the past year as proprietary loans gain more interest among senior homeowners. While prop loans generally have higher interest rates than HECMs, they also typically allow for higher proceeds while removing the burdensome upfront mortgage insurance requirement of FHA-insured products.

“If you had asked me maybe a year ago, I would have said, as a company, we are a lot more HECM than proprietary — probably 80% HECM and 20% proprietary. But this year we’ve seen a very large increase in our product mix for proprietary. I’m estimating 65% HECM and 35% proprietary,” Bodner said.

“That is because proprietary guidelines are growing and expanding, and they’re more flexible than HECMs. No. 1, proprietary products allow for higher-value homes, meaning it allows borrowers to access more equity. No. 2, it allows borrowers to pay off debt to qualify. FHA still does not allow that. Additionally, FHA has made it very challenging to finance condominiums with a HECM. Proprietary has opened up the doors in many cases to be able to offer financing for non-FHA-approved condominiums.”

Editor’s note: This story was revised from an earlier version that incorrectly described Atlantic Avenue’s endorsement growth from March to April.