Reverse mortgages on rise

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. banking analysts say there's been a sharp rise in the number of homeowners tapping into their equity through reverse mortgages.

More people are using reverse mortgages for retirement income, The Washington Times reported Saturday.

The number of home-equity conversion mortgages, or HECMs, has risen 249 percent since 2005, with 107,558 of the loans taken out in 2007, said the Federal Housing Administration, which insures the loans.

HECMs, available only to those older than 62, lets homeowners take a loan against their home that requires no repayment while they remain in their homes. The debt is repaid to the lender when the borrowers move or die.

The loans are particularly appealing to some of the more than 34 million Americans over the age of 65 who have retired or are about to retire, but won't have a large retirement income, said Shelley Giordano, a broker with Wells Fargo.

"I think everybody sees the silver tsunami on its way in baby boomers," Giordano said. "They are not as averse to borrowing as other generations have been."