FOA leads July HECM endorsements while HMBS issuance remains weak

Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsement declined in July after an uptick in June, while HECM Mortgage-Backed Securities (HMBS) issuance remained near the lowest levels seen since 2009, according to data released Monday by New View Advisors.

The top 15 originators endorsed 2,034 HECM loans last month, down from 2,064 in June. Finance of America (FOA) led the way with 498 endorsements in July, followed by Mutual of Omaha Mortgage (377) and Longbridge Financial (351). Traditional Mortgage Acceptance Corp. (TMAC) was fourth with 101 and Guild Mortgage was fifth with 66.

For the year ending in July 2026, Mutual of Omaha ranks No. 1 with 5,189 endorsements and a 21% market share. FOA‘s 4,822 endorsements are good for second place and a 19.5% market share, with Longbridge in third (4,162, 16.8%).

New View’s report analyzes HECM production by region using Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) data. It found that HUD’s homeownership center in Santa Ana, California, led the way with 660 endorsements in July, with field offices in Santa Ana, Los Angeles and Seattle leading the way for individual production.

The three other HUD homeownership centers were closely bunched in terms of July production, with Atlanta posting 467 endorsements, followed by Philadelphia at 466 and Denver at 441.

HECM production remains muted at a time when higher interest rates should theoretically push more borrowers into a federally insured reverse mortgage.

But proprietary products, which generally include higher rates, have been driving the industry’s overall growth. They offer advantages such as higher loan amounts and no upfront mortgage insurance premiums, while also removing the need for a second appraisal that has been a sticking point for some HECM deals.

John Luddy, who leads reverse mortgage sales for Supreme Lending, offered some perspective on the current interest rate environment in this week’s Monday Morning Q&A with HousingWire’s Reverse Mortgage Daily.

“The last thing I worry about is interest rates. I cannot change interest rates,” Luddy said. “What I can do is change people’s lives by transferring that positive energy and helping them understand the product. This has never been a better time to sell reverse mortgages.”

July HMBS issuance rises slightly to $463M

Secondary market issuance of HECMs through the HMBS program saw a marginal increase from June but was well below July 2025 levels, according to New View’s analysis of Ginnie Mae data.

The total issuance of $463 million in July was up $7 million from the prior month but down $78 million from the $541 million recorded in July 2025. The 59 pools issued in July were two more than in June, yet July ranked as the 12th-lowest month for HMBS issuance since 2009 and was second-weakest July in the past 17 years.

FOA was the top issuer in July with $177 million in HMBS, down $2 million from June’s figure of $179 million. Longbridge followed with $141 million, up $9 million from June, while Mutual of Omaha’s issuance fell by $7 million to $86 million. TMAC was the next-largest issuer at $23 million, and Onity Mortgage Corp. issued $8 million, $2 million less than in June.

New View noted that the long-standing “top 5” issuer cohort has effectively consolidated into a “Big 3” of FOA, Longbridge and Mutual of Omaha. Ginnie Mae/RMF (known as “Issuer 42”) again issued no HMBS pools, underscoring the continued absence of a once-significant participant in the reverse mortgage securitization market.

First-participation and tail issuance trends

Original or “first participation” production reached $305 million in July, $15 million higher than June but $35 million below May 2026 and $38 million under July 2025’s $350 million total.

For the first seven months of 2026, FOA led first participation issuance with $695 million, followed by Longbridge at $613 million, Mutual of Omaha at $424 million and Onity at $151 million. Onity did not issue any first participation pools in July, indicating its July activity came entirely from tail securitizations.

Of July’s 59 pools, 17 were first-participation pools, 41 were tail pools and one pool included both first participations and tails. Original pools are backed by first participations in previously uncertificated HECM loans. Tail pools consist of subsequent participations and do not reflect new loan originations, but they do represent additional amounts lent under existing reverse mortgage lines.

Tail issuance totaled $158 million in July, down slightly from $162 million in June. Seventeen pools had an aggregate pool size of less than $1 million as issuers continued to use Ginnie Mae’s provision allowing pools as small as $250,000. New View Advisors said these small pools represented $12 million of unpaid principal balance (UPB) that likely would not have been issued in July otherwise.

Ginnie Mae’s 2023 guidance, APM 23-11, which allows participations from the same loan to be pooled more than once in a month, is also influencing issuance patterns. In July, $62.5 million in participations came from loans with more than one participation pooled in the same month, including $6.3 million in first participations.

This article was written by Neil Pierson and generated with the assistance of HousingWire Automation, then reviewed by a HousingWire editor before publication.