HousingWireHousingWire
Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) volume took a hit in 2024 and the HECM-backed Securities (HMBS) issuance market also saw overall reductions in output for the year, giving further context to a challenging period for the reverse mortgage industry broadly. Once again, total issuance was down in 2024, and the top 10 issuers reshuffled slightly.
This is according to HMBS issuer league tables compiled using public Ginnie Mae data and private sources from New View Advisors.
| Rank | Company in 2024 | Market share | Company in 2023 | Rank change |
| 1 | FOA | 31% | FOA | Hold |
| 2 | Longbridge | 22.4% | Longbridge | Hold |
| 3 | Mutual Omaha | 18.4% | PHH/Liberty | Mutual +1 |
| 4 | PHH/Liberty | 17.9% | Mutual Omaha | PHH -1 |
| 5 | TMAC/Goodlife | 4.1% | TMAC/Goodlife | Hold |
| 6 | Plaza | 2.3% | Guild | Plaza +2 |
| 7 | Guild | 2.2% | MAM | Guild -1 |
| 8 | MAM | 1.4% | Plaza | MAM -1 |
| 9 | Sun West | 0.4% | Sun West | Hold |
| 10 | Money Source | >0.0% | Money House | Source +1 |
Leading players
Continuing its streak at the top of the list is Finance of America (FOA), with 31% market share and issuance of 315 pools for a total of more than $1.8 billion. FOA issued 83 fewer HMBS pools than it did in 2023, according to the data. HMBS issuance is a metric the company is keeping a close eye on, based on statements made by corporate leadership in earnings calls throughout the year.
Company leaders highlighted both its HMBS market position and the elevated levels of home equity held by older Americans as indications of its market presence in the reverse mortgage space. But it also faced certain financial challenges, and addressed its low stock price last year by initiating a 10-to-1 split of its shares that has largely had its intended impact over the past several months.
Longbridge Financial also maintained its position in the 2024 rankings with 139 pools issued for a total of nearly $1.4 billion, coming in with only three fewer pools than it did in 2023. Corporate leadership at Ellington Financial, Longbridge’s parent company, explained in certain earnings calls that it had faced challenges with HMBS issuance stemming from wider yield spreads that impacted the value of mortgage servicing rights.
But the company has also put more emphasis on its proprietary reverse mortgage products over the past year, including with recent securitizations backed by them.
Mutual of Omaha Mortgage, which overtook FOA on 2024’s HECM endorsements leaderboard, issued fewer pools then PHH Mortgage Corp but managed to reach a higher spot on the rankings with a total of $1.1 billion on only 60 pools. PHH generated a total of nearly $1.08 billion in issuance despite having issued 199 pools, coming in just behind Mutual of Omaha in the rankings.
“Mutual of Omaha and PHH swapped places again for third, with [Mutual] issuing $1.112 billion for an 18.4% market share, and PHH issuing $1.079 billion for a 17.9% market share,” New View noted in the commentary accompanying its issuer league tables. “Just $32.6 million of HMBS issuance separated MoO and PHH for the year.”
HMBS developments to watch
The top four HMBS issuers have more than 90% combined market share when compared to the remaining issuers on the league tables, New View noted. Despite issuance having fallen for a second straight year in 2024, New View previously advised HousingWire’s Reverse Mortgage Daily (RMD) that this doesn’t necessarily mean that the issuance market is unhealthy.
“Liquidity and execution remain fairly healthy and there is optimism HMBS 2.0 will provide additional capital relief to the industry,” said Michael McCully, partner at New View to RMD earlier this month.
HMBS 2.0 remains a point of optimism industry-wide, including for companies in the space and for other industry participants and advocates. The complementary HMBS program is designed to bolster liquidity in the secondary reverse mortgage market, including through a reduction in the HMBS pool size to 95% of the loan’s total unpaid principal balance (UPB).
“Mitigating issuers’ liquidity stress is still a necessity, and it is so very important that we see this effort across the finish line,” said Steve Irwin, president of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association, in an interview last month with RMD. “Issuers need to continue their work on system development, there are prospectuses that need to be developed, the HMBS guide needs updates and revisions. We are at the ready to help.”
Companies are also looking ahead to the implementation of HMBS 2.0 including FOA, but an implementation timeline remains unclear.
While Ginnie Mae issued the proposed program’s final term sheet this past November, the impending political transition and departure of all major company leaders who spearheaded the program — namely former Ginnie Mae President Alanna McCargo and acting president Sam Valverde — have both moved on to other things.
But Irwin and others in the industry remain committed to stepping in where they can, and it remains to be seen how much of a priority these — and other issues undertaken by the Biden administration’s housing leaders — will continue to be in the incoming Trump administration.
