Private MI Declines

The amount of private mortgage insurance written by the members of the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America totaled $17.8 billion in November, down 5% from $18.8 billion in October.The total decline represents less activity in both the traditional category and the bulk category. The member companies wrote $13.0 billion of traditional insurance in November, down from $13.5 billion the previous month. For the same time periods, they wrote $4.8 billion of bulk, down from $5.2 billion. Applications fell over 15%, from 129,612 in October to 109,590 in November. But November was the best month of the year by far in terms of new pool risk written, at $253.7 million. The next-best month of the year in this category was March, at $76.7 million. The cure/default ratio improved from 71.8% in October to 75.7% in November, with 34,509 cures and 45,325 defaults. The ratio is at its highest level since April, when it stood at 98.0%. MICA can be found online at http://www.micanews.com.