Home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) endorsements bounced back in March, jumping 16.3% to a total of 2,117 loans following a brief volume dip in the shorter month of February, according to a recent analysis from Reverse Market Insight (RMI).

Despite the month-over-month increase, overall HECM volume remains lower than any month since August of last year. This holds true even when analysts average the data from October and November to account for administrative processing delays caused by the federal government shutdown.

RMI researchers point to a highly competitive, non-Federal Housing Administration reverse mortgage market as the primary factor dragging down figures for traditional HECM loans backed by the FHA. While comprehensive data on the private market is not published publicly in the same manner as federal data, market analysts note that proprietary reverse mortgage products have dominated unit volume growth for several years.

This shift in consumer and originator preference is particularly evident when excluding the major HECM refinance waves that occurred between 2018 and 2022.

Despite the broader macro-level weakness in the FHA-insured space, the March recovery was widespread across the U.S. Nine out of 10 geographic regions reported a positive increase in endorsement volume, and four of those regions grew at a pace significantly faster than the overall national rate of 16.3%.

The Rocky Mountain region led the geographic shift with a 33.8% surge, resulting in 178 loans. The Northwest and Alaska region followed closely behind, posting a 33.1% gain to reach 165 loans for the month. The New York and New Jersey area increased by an even 33%, logging 133 loans, while the Mid-Atlantic region gained 32.5%, closing the month with 159 loans.

This positive momentum was also reflected at the institutional level, with eight of the top 10 reverse mortgage lenders seeing their origination numbers increase during the month of March, according to RMI.