ALTA: Title Industry Thriving

The American Land Title Association has released figures that reveal a strong financial picture for the title insurance industry in the first quarter -- the busiest quarter in its history.Total operating income for the industry was up 28.9% in the first quarter from that of a year earlier, and the loss ratio (losses as a percentage of total operating income) was 3.5%, compared with 4.6% for the first quarter of last year, ALTA reported. The level of pretax profit (before investment income) was $188.4 million, up dramatically from $50.8 million in the first quarter of 2002. On an after-tax basis, industry profits totaled $185.9 million, up from $88 million a year earlier, according to the association. ALTA can be found on the Web at http://www.alta.org.