Applications Dive for Private MIs

The number of applications received by private mortgage insurers in April slipped below the total received in February, normally one of the worst months of the year.In April, according to a Mortgage Insurance Companies of America survey of its members, 101,070 applications were received, well below the 141,117 received in March and the 108,788 received in February. Only January has been slower in application activity for MIs over the last 12 months. In dollar volume, primary new insurance written totaled $13.6 billion in April, down over 35% from $20.9 billion in March. However, much of the decline was in the bulk category, as volume fell from just under $9 billion in March to only $2.6 billion in April. The traditional category was down by just $1 billion in April, to approximately $11 billion. New pool risk written for the month totaled $22.0 million, down from $76.7 million in March. In the last month of the past three quarters, mortgage insurers have done more than double the business in new pool risk written that they did in the first two months. The cure/default ratio was 98% in April, as cures totaled 34,866 and defaults totaled 35,570.