MICA Numbers Off, but Strong

Private mortgage insurers had their second best month of the year in July in terms of net primary new insurance written, according to data collected by the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America.The $16.7 billion written in July represented a decline of 2.5% from the industry's record month of $17.1 billion in June. In terms of net applications, July's 174,325 was the third best month of 1998. Still, this was down 2.1% from June's 178,095. Net volume does not include loans that are being insured that have more than 12 months of seasoning. At the end of the first seven months of 1998, there had been $98.2 billion of net new primary insurance written, up 51% from the same period last year, and there had been 1,113,477 net applications, up 57%.