Mutual of Omaha remains No. 1 as HECM endorsements fall 4.7% in May

Mutual of Omaha Mortgage remained the nation’s largest reverse mortgage lender in May, even as overall Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsements continued to decline, according to a report released Monday by HECMWorld.com that utilizes data from Reverse Market Insight (RMI).

Mutual of Omaha recorded 423 HECM endorsements during the month, upping its total to 2,169 on a year-to-date basis. That represents a 21.5% market share. But the lender’s production fell 14.9% from April and was down 9.4% from the same period a year earlier.

Finance of America ranked second with 407 endorsements in May and 2,017 year to date, capturing a 20.7% market share. Unlike many competitors, the lender posted a 3.3% monthly increase in production, although its year-to-date volume remained down 14.9%.

Longbridge Financial held the No. 3 spot with 357 endorsements in May and 1,694 through the first five months of 2026, accounting for 18.2% of the market. Its monthly volume slipped 2.7% while year-to-date production was down 5.7%.

The three largest lenders collectively controlled more than 60% of the reverse mortgage market through the first five months of the year.

Industrywide, the top 100 retail lenders endorsed 1,967 HECM loans in May, down 4.7% from April and 10.8% year over year. Total endorsements across all lenders reached 10,288 through May, a 13.3% decline from the same period in 2025.

Several lenders posted notable monthly gains. Guild Mortgage increased endorsements by 54.8% from April, while Rate rose 50% and All Western Mortgage doubled its monthly volume. loanDepot posted a 150% month-over-month increase, although from a smaller base.

Among the top 10 lenders, GoodLife Home Loans ranked fourth with 87 endorsements in May, followed by South River Mortgage with 74 and Guild Mortgage with 65.

The total of 1,967 endorsements in May marked the lowest monthly volume reported so far this year and was below the 2,296 endorsements recorded during the same month in 2025, continuing a downward trend in originations of federally insured reverse mortgages.

HMBS issuances

The slowdown in lending activity was also reflected in the secondary market. HECM Mortgage-Backed Securities (HMBS) issuance totaled $500 million in May, down from $525 million in April and $544 million in May 2025, according to data compiled by New View Advisors.

Issuers created 63 pools during the month, four fewer than in April. New View reported that last month’s figure marked the lowest issuance recorded for the month of May since 2009.

Finance of America was the largest HMBS issuer in May, producing $171 million in securities, up slightly from $170 million in April. Longbridge Financial followed with $133 million, down $14 million from the previous month. Mutual of Omaha Mortgage issued $97 million, a decline of $1 million, while Onity Mortgage Corp., formerly PHH Mortgage Corp. issued $48 million, down $11 million from April.

Ginnie Mae/Reverse Mortgage Funding, known in the market as “Issuer 42,” did not issue any HMBS pools during the month.

Original, or first-participation, HMBS production totaled $330 million in May, unchanged from April. Production increased by $70 million from March but was $36 million below the $366 million recorded in May 2025.

For the first five months of 2026, Finance of America remained the leading issuer of first-participation HMBS with $469 million issued. Longbridge ranked second with $431 million, followed by Mutual of Omaha at $307 million and Onity at $151 million.

Of the 63 pools issued in May, 18 were first-participation pools, 44 were tail pools and one contained both first participations and tails.

Tail pools, which are backed by subsequent participations rather than new loans, totaled $169 million in May, down from $194 million in April. While tail issuances do not represent new reverse mortgages, they reflect additional funds advanced on existing loans.

The report also highlighted the growing use of smaller HMBS pools. Eighteen pools issued in May had aggregate balances of less than $1 million. Ginnie Mae rules allow issuers to create pools as small as $250,000, enabling approximately $10.6 million in unpaid principal balance that otherwise might not have been securitized during the month.

In addition, $57.3 million of participations pooled in May involved multiple participations from the same loan being securitized in the same month under Ginnie Mae guidance adopted in 2023. Of that amount, $6.3 million consisted of first participations.