Atlantic Avenue Mortgage Leads Hecm Broker Endorsement Activity In January

Following in the footsteps of an initial dataset for 2025, Reverse Market Insight (RMI) and HECMWorld published updated numbers this week for reverse mortgage broker and third-party originator activity.

While the top Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) originators for January 2026 did not vary from 2025 as a whole, they offer insight into which companies hit the ground running in 2026 — a year likely to be defined by high levels of senior home equity, mortgage rate movements and potential changes to the HECM and HECM Mortgage-Backed Securities (HMBS) programs.

The top 10 HECM brokers for the 12-month period ending in January were led by Florida-based Atlantic Avenue Mortgage, which endorsed 935 HECM loans during the period. It also led all companies by endorsing 113 loans in January 2026 — well above its 12-month average of 78 endorsements.

Second place went to loanDepot with 449 endorsements, including 38 in January. Caliver Beach Mortgage was third with 386, while C2 Financial Corp. (204) and Carrington Mortgage Services (153) rounded out the top five.

Broker channel data for January lags lender data for February that was released earlier this month by RMI. That report showed that HECM endorsements dropped by nearly 21% from January to February, with the 1,821 loans endorsed last month representing the lowest level since early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

New View Advisors reported negative impacts to the secondary market in February as HMBS issuance fell to $431 million across 66 pools, with first participation down to $260 million. That was down $103 million from January and $39 million below February 2025 levels.

Stagnant activity for the federally insured HECM program is also tied to increased demand for proprietary reverse mortgages, which accounted for 45% market share in December, according to New View.

That segment has expanded significantly in recent years as leading lenders like Mutual of Omaha Mortgage and Longbridge Financial have released and updated their private-label product sets.

On Tuesday, Finance of America said that it would launch one of its proprietary loans, HomeSafe Second, in three additional states. HomeSafe Second is a second-lien reverse mortgage that allows seniors to tap home equity without trading in their low-rate first mortgage. The product is now available in a total of 16 states.