NRMLA: Reverse Mortgages Continue To Grow

Reverse-mortgage lenders closed 112,000 home equity conversion loans in fiscal year 2008, up from 107,558 in 2007.

Researchers at the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association, Washington, compiled those figures using data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The Homeownership and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 may have reduced reverse mortgage growth temporarily, because would-be borrowers may be waiting for HUD to apply new HERA rules, NRMLA says.

One HERA provision would allow reverse-mortgage borrowers to get bigger loans at lower origination fees.