HECM

Reverse mortgage metrics dipped slightly in June

The high mortgage rates that have stymied the broader housing market continue to put a lid on reverse mortgage activity too. According to the June report from Reverse Mortgage Insight, Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsements dropped to 2,244 loans, down 2.3% compared to May and part of a sinking trend that resumed after an […]

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Record-high home equity provides opportunity for the reverse mortgage industry

Soaring prices and increasingly strained affordability have made things difficult for prospective buyers shopping for their first home. But for households that own their home already, rising prices have been a wealth bonanza. That’s evident in data from the annual State of the Nation’s Housing Report from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS),

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A financial planner shares her journey to understanding reverse mortgages

Rachel Gustafson serves as a certified financial planner with the Financial Investment Team, a firm based in Portland, Oregon. Over the course of a 12-year career in the field, she has a specialty for helping her clients figure out the best and most efficient ways to retire. When reverse mortgages first showed up on her

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Global equity release market projected to top $56B by 2035

Equity release — a class of financial products that involve unlocking home equity and converting it into cash flow — currently has global annual volume of roughly $17 billion. This class includes reverse mortgage products in the U.S., the United Kingdom and elsewhere, but a European equity release authority projects that volume will more than

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In Chicago, a reverse mortgage scammer left a lasting scar

Mark Diamond has been sentenced to 17 years in federal prison for his crimes against elderly homeowners, but the scars from the damage he inflicted across the Chicago metro area are still visible. A recent report from a local publication, the South Side Weekly, detailed one family’s struggle to recover from Diamond’s scams. Louise Minter

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HUD is light on reverse mortgage detail in budget justifications

Following the release of the president’s fiscal year 2026 “skinny” budget request — and a look at the White House’s performance expectations for the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program — the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has released its congressional justifications document to explain the reasons for its appropriations requests. Normally,

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Fairway, Longbridge lead reverse mortgage presence at The Gathering

This week at The Gathering by HousingWire, reverse mortgages took center stage on Tuesday as HW Media CEO Clayton Collins welcomed two leading industry executives to the stage. Dan Ventura, the president of reverse mortgage lending at Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp., and Chris Mayer, CEO of Longbridge Financial, spoke in front of the assembled professionals

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Reverse mortgage performance was largely steady in May

Despite a raft of what might seem like contradictory economic data points and a challenged housing market, the reverse mortgage industry largely proceeded as normal based on key performance metrics for May 2025. Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsements dropped by 1% in May to 2,296 loans, despite recent increases in the expected interest rate

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New California wildfire homeowner assistance program includes reverse mortgages

As communities and organizations continue to reckon with the impact of the Los Angeles-area wildfires, the state is now stepping in with a new assistance program that will include impacted reverse mortgage borrowers whose homes were damaged or lost. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Thursday announced that the CalAssist Mortgage Fund will launch on

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White House expects reverse mortgages to continue producing government receipts

Following last month’s release of the so-called “skinny budget” from the White House, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has released a 1,200-plus page appendix for the proposal. It includes projections related to the performance of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) portion of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance (MMI) Fund. According to the data

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