December Worst Month of '07 for Defaults

Despite continued strength in new insurance written and continued growth in primary insurance in force, December was the worst month of the year in terms of the cure/default ratio and the number of defaults, according to data from the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America. After two weak months in the bulk insurance category, $25.8 billion of primary new insurance was written in December, up 6.7% from $24.2 billion in November. Traditional insurance written totaled $22.8 billion, down from $23.4 billion in November, while just under $3 billion of bulk insurance was written, up from $793 million. At the end of December 2006, $668.4 billion of primary insurance was in force; one year later, that has grown to $819.8 billion. The cure/default ratio fell from 60.8% in November to 54.1% in December, with 34,813 cures and 64,384 defaults. It is the second consecutive month in which defaults have topped 60,000. Back in March, there were just 42,362 defaults reported. All the private mortgage insurance companies except Radian report data to MICA.