MICA: Primary New MI Hits 12-Month Low

For the first time since last February, the total amount of primary new insurance written by members of the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America fell below $20 billion. The total stood at $19.2 billion written in February 2008, with $19.1 billion coming through the traditional channel, the lowest amount written in that channel since April 2007. In February 2007, there was $12.6 billion of traditional insurance and $4.3 billion of bulk insurance written. The bulk channel is suffering because of the problems in the subprime marketplace, as just 223 certificates or policies were issued during the month. At the end of February, $839.6 billion of risk was in force, compared with $676.9 billion a year earlier. There was $23.0 million of new pool risk written. Application volume stood at 152,786, compared with 138,679 in January and 123,059 in February 2007. The cure/default ratio had a significant rebound in February, as 47,933 cures and 60,911 defaults were recorded, for a ratio of 78.7%. January's ratio was just 51.4%. MICA can be found online at http://www.micanews.com.