There was $5.7 billion of primary new mortgage insurance written in August by the members of the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America, marking four consecutive months of increased business.
However, at the end of that month, Republic Mortgage Insurance Co. stopped issuing new policies because of the expiration of its regulatory waiver on the risk-to-capital ratio. During August, PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. was placed under supervision by the Arizona Department of Insurance and could no longer issue commitments.
August was the second best month of the year in terms of dollar volume, trailing only January's $6.4 billion. However, MICA's data for January included United Guaranty Corp., which is no longer a member of the trade group.
August was the best month year-to-date in terms of MI applications received, with 30,702.
Primary insurance in force continued to decline, to $598.6 billion from $601.7 billion in July.
The cure/default ratio improved by nearly nine percentage points over July, to 82.2%, with 39,627 cures and 48,187 new notices of default reported during the month.
