Proprietary reverse mortgage market share continues to climb

New View Advisors on Tuesday published the newest installment of its Proprietary Reverse Mortgage Production Index, which showed that private-label reverse mortgages are continuing to become a preferred product among lenders and borrowers.

The company estimated that proprietary loan volume totaled $250 million in December 2025, $730 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 and nearly $2.5 billion for all of last year.

This compares favorably to new sales of federally insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs), which totaled $292 million in December and roughly $4 billion in 2025.

New View Advisors, which released its initial quarterly index at the end of October, estimated that private-label loans started 2025 with a market share of about 30%. Based on volume in December, that figure grew to represent 45% of originations.

The company compiles the report from public and private sources, including financial statements, ratings agency reports and other data related to proprietary reverse mortgage securitizations.

The growth in the proprietary market coincides with some key concerns facing the HECM market.

In October, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a request for information (RFI) about the HECM program and its secondary market companion, the HECM Mortgage-Backed Securities (HMBS) program.

The RFI initially included a Dec. 1 deadline for comments, which was later extended to Jan. 5. Many reverse mortgage market stakeholders — including New View — offered their thoughts on how to improve the programs, which have seen demand stagnate in recent years.

New View published a lengthy blog post in early December in which it responded to a laundry list of questions posed by HUD and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

Among the recommendations by the advisory firm were lower upfront mortgage insurance premiums, streamlined HECM options that match up better with proprietary loans and the potential removal of borrower counseling requirements if the HECM program were simplified.

The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA) has also publicized its desire for lower mortgage insurance costs. The trade group estimated that about 25% of potential HECM originations have been lost since the FHA eliminated risk-based pricing in late 2017.

Additionally, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) weighed in with several ideas, including a new HMBS security that would allow all HECMs that reach 98% of the maximum claim amount to be resecuritized. Under current Ginnie Mae rules, lenders must buy back a HECM loan once it reaches that threshold. But the MBA argues that a new secondary market option would stimulate investor demand and increase guaranty fee revenue.