Private MI Jumped in March

The lower interest rate environment that sparked a brief boom in March boosted volume for the member companies of the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America.The total dollar volume of primary new insurance written was $20.25 billion, up from $14.45 billion in February. The March total included $16.84 billion in traditional insurance and $3.4 billion in bulk. Application volume increased 25% in March, from 140,648 to 189,311, and new pool risk written totaled $83.4 million. The cure/default ratio was well over the 100% line for the second straight month, at 114.4%. There were 43,489 cures and 38,014 defaults. Beginning in July 2003, all data from MICA excludes information from Radian Group, which is no longer a member of the trade association. MICA can be found online at http://www.micanews.com.