Title insurers see margins rise, sales still weak

August 11, 2025 2:34 PM

The disappointing spring home purchase season influenced the second quarter results of the publicly traded title insurance underwriters.

Certain metrics were strong, with pretax title margins at three of the companies' showing significant gains versus the second quarter. Stewart was up 630 basis points, First American reported a 530 basis point rise and Fidelity National increased by 380 basis points, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods noted.

Yet it was a mixed bag for the title-specific lines at the large companies. FNF's title segment had an increased contribution of $19 million to its adjusted net earnings but the F&G life insurance business recorded a $33 million year-over-year drop-off.

Old Republic's title segment noted its pretax operating income was over 47% lower, even as net premiums earned rose by over 5%.

"If interest rates trend lower, purchase mortgage volumes could increase and lead to positive estimate revisions, and we view title insurers as the best way in our coverage universe to gain exposure to an improvement in purchase volumes," Bose George, an analyst at KBW said in a wrap on First American.

The following is a roundup of earnings at the nation's four largest title insurers, plus one other publicly traded company. Several other underwriters are owned all or in part by homebuilders and mortgage insurers.

FNF's purchase orders lag historic 2Q levels

Title net earnings at Fidelity National Financial were $260 million for the second quarter, up from $159 million one year prior.

At the holding company level, however, net income attributable to shareholders of $278 million was lower than $306 million for the second quarter of 2024 because of the aforementioned shift at F&G.

"As the largest title insurer in terms of market share, we believe FNF will continue to be able to use its scale to generate industry-leading margins," George said in his report on its earnings.

The company had direct open orders of 366,000, compared with 343,000 in the first quarter, and 344,000 for the period ended June 30, 2024.

"We were encouraged to see a 5% increase in daily purchase orders opened over the first quarter of 2025, although lower than the more typical increase of 10% that we have seen in recent years," said CEO Mike Nolan on the earnings call.

Another positive sign for FNF's business is that the company was particularly active recruiting during the three-month period, as it builds for the long-term, said Anthony Park, chief financial officer.

"Importantly, we don't expect these incremental expenses to impact our ability to deliver a 15% to 20% pretax title margin once we rebound to a normalized market, although transactional volumes remain low at this time," Park added.

This activity is ultimately great for FNF, Nolan said. "But you do front-load the expenses. And so as you board people that are going to bring you revenue, they're bringing that 60, 90 days after."

Purchase revenue falls at First American

Net income at First American Financial grew to $146.1 million from $116 million one-year prior.

Open order counts were up 179,500 in the most recent period, compared with 163,900 for the three months ended March 31 and 169,600 for the second quarter of 2024.

"Our purchase revenue declined 3%, driven by lower demand for new homes," said CEO Mark Seaton on the earnings call. "But as purchase volumes return to the trend line, we are very well positioned given our operating leverage and strength with local real estate professionals who drive purchase volumes."

At First American, personnel costs were $523 million in the second quarter, up $37 million from the prior year.

The increase was a result of incentive compensation expense resulting from higher revenue and profitability, and higher salary expense and employee benefit costs.

Just after the quarter started, on April 10 First American fired Ken DeGiorgio as CEO following an incident on a cruise ship. He was replaced with Seaton.

Stewart looks to build cross-selling strategy

Stewart Information Services reported net income of $31.9 million for the quarter, up from $17.3 million for the second quarter of 2025.

Its title segment operating revenues grew by $96.3 million (19%), with improved revenues from both its direct and agency title operations versus the prior year.

Open orders ended the period at 89,646. In the first quarter Stewart did 78,943, while for the second quarter last year it had 86,721. This improvement was a result of commercial refinancing and real estate investor activity.

"We are very pleased with our second quarter results as they demonstrate our ability to significantly grow both revenue and earnings in a stubbornly challenged housing market," said CEO Fred Eppinger on the earnings call. "Market uncertainty and affordability challenges have kept buyers at bay as they await further clarity on near-term economics."

On the call, he spoke about cross-selling as its PropStream unit in the real estate solutions segment acquired BatchLeads and BatchDialer in early July.

"We expect to grow the real estate solutions business line by gaining share with top lenders and cross-selling our products as we leverage our improved portfolio of services," Eppinger said.

Cross-selling in today's real estate market poses some challenges, he admitted. "However, we are pleased to see share gains with both existing clients and new client introductions, and we expect continued momentum in this space as the market improves."

Direct orders decline at Old Republic

Underwriting income for Old Republic's title insurance business was down 76.9% year-over-year, to $6.9 million from $30.2 billion.

This contributed to the pretax operating income falling by 47.2%, to $24.2 million from $46 million.

Unlike the other companies, open orders were down from the comparative periods. It did 48,919 orders in this year's second quarter, compared with 50,342 in the first quarter and 54,747 one year ago.

Order counts, however, only measure direct operations.

"Premium from our direct title operations were up 3% from second quarter of 2024, our agency produced premiums were up 7% and made up 77% of our revenue during the quarter, up from 76% during the second quarter of last year," Carolyn Monroe, who is president of Old Republic's title business, said on the earnings call.

Old Republic International, which operates other line including property and casualty, made $204.4 million in the second quarter, more than double the $91.8 million for the same period last year.

Order growth sets Investors Title up for third quarter

Investors Title reported net income of $12.3 million, compared with $8.9 million one year prior.

Revenues increased by 12.6% to $73.6 million, while net premiums written and escrow and title-related fees increased by $4 million, primarily driven by higher real estate activity levels.

Operating expenses increased 6.9% to $57.9 million, compared to $54.1 million in the prior year period, driven by higher agent commissions due to the growth in this business and an increase in the provision for claims.

"Despite ongoing market headwinds, incoming order volumes in the second quarter exceeded those of the same period last year," said J. Allen Fine, chairman, in a press release. However, Investors Title does not disclose order count data.

"As a result, we are entering the third quarter with a stronger pipeline of open orders compared to a year ago," Fine continued. "We believe this positions us well for continued momentum in the quarters ahead."