One of our readers wanted to know, “How slow is December for reverse mortgages?” So we looked at data from 2007 when things were fairly stable. We learned two things:
- January is very active
- December is usually slightly down from November.
2007 results:
- 2007 October: 8,417
- 2007 November: 8,270 (-2%)
- 2007 December: 8,007 (-3%)
- 2008 January: 9,957 (up 24%)
2008 results:
- 2008 October: 10,121
- 2008 November: 7,771 (-23%)
We went and looked at 2006 numbers as well and saw the same pattern as 2007 – November and December are down a little from October but not too much then January spikes up. The 23% drop in November 2008 from October 2008 is something new — perhaps an economy in turmoil?