Primary New MI Declines

Companies that belong to the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America wrote $20.7 billion of primary new insurance in December, down nearly 6% from $22.0 billion in November.However, in terms of traditional primary new insurance written, there was an increase to $18.0 billion from $17.2 billion in November. Bulk insurance decreased to $2.7 billion from $4.9 billion. Applications received continue to fall, from 154,348 to 145,213. Comparisons with statistics from December 2002 are misleading because Radian Group Inc. is no longer a member of MICA, and results prior to June 2003 include that company's data. Pool risk written totaled $96.8 million in December, down from $124.5 million in November. Pool risk in force at the end of the fourth quarter totaled $13.6 billion. After a one-month improvement, the cure/default ratio declined from November to December, from 95.5% to 83.7%. There were 45,336 cures and 54,187 defaults during the month. MICA can be found online at http://www.micanews.com.