MICA: New Biz Written, Cure/Default Remain Low

The members of the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America started off 2009 the way 2008 ended, at the low end of the spectrum in terms of new business written and in the cure/default ratio. For January 2009, there was $7.1 billion of primary new insurance written, all through the traditional channel. This is compared with $7.2 billion in December 2008 (all but $28 million through the traditional channel) and $22.2 billion in January 2008 ($496 million through the bulk channel). However the numbers for January 2008 include Triad Guaranty, whose data stopped being included in the report in July 2008 and do not include Radian Guaranty, which rejoined the group and started reporting again in December 2008. The number of applications received increased from 61,597 in December to 76,130 in January, while certificates issued increased in the same time frame from 46,605 to 59,569. The amount of primary insurance in force decreased from $952.2 billion in December to $949.3 billion in January. There was a slight improvement in the cure/default ratio, to 48.0%, with 51,093 cures and 106,484 defaults. December's cure/default ratio was 47.3%. New pool risk written in January was $6.8 million, down from $8.1 million in December.