Proprietary reverse mortgages continued to gain market share in 2025, fueled by rapid growth in originations and larger loan balances, according to a Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data.

The analysis, released Monday as MBA’s Chart of the Week, comes as more older Americans are choosing to age in place. Citing the U.S. Census Bureau‘s 2024 American Community Survey, the association said homeowners ages 55 and older own 55% of all owner-occupied homes in the U.S., with households headed by someone 65 or older accounting for more than one-third of these homes.

At the same time, 14 years of home price appreciation have pushed accumulated equity to nearly $35 trillion, according to Federal Reserve data, creating additional opportunities for seniors to tap their housing wealth while aging in place.

The analysis examined reverse mortgage originations between 2018 and 2025, comparing Federal Housing Administration-insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs) with proprietary reverse mortgage products offered by private lenders.

After averaging about 59,000 originations in both 2021 and 2022, reverse mortgage volume fell 57% to 25,312 loans in 2023. Of this total, 23,538 loans (93%) were HECMs, while 1,774 loans (7%) were proprietary reverse mortgages.

Although HECM originations increased modestly by 4.7% in 2024 and 0.7% in 2025, proprietary reverse mortgage originations grew much faster — rising 81% in 2024 and 118% in 2025.

As a result, proprietary products accounted for 22% of all reverse mortgage originations in 2025, more than triple their 7% market share in 2023 and above the 14% share recorded in 2022, when 8,359 proprietary reverse mortgages were originated.

MBA also noted that proprietary reverse mortgages typically have larger loan balances than HECMs, allowing them to account for nearly 40% of reverse mortgage originations by dollar volume in 2025.

According to the association, HMDA data shows $5.8 billion in HECM originations during 2025, while Home Equity Conversion Mortgage-Backed Securities (HMBS) issuance totaled about $4 billion. MBA said the difference reflects the fact that HMDA reports the initial principal limit, while HMBS data is based on actual loan balances.

This article was generated using HousingWire Automation and reviewed by a HousingWire editor before publication.