Private MI Rebounds

The private mortgage insurance business recovered from a one-month slump in July to have its second-best month of the year so far in August.The members of the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America booked primary new insurance written of $22.2 billion, up 29% from $17.1 billion in July. The only month better for the industry was June, when it wrote $23.1 billion. Primary new insurance is split into two categories, traditional and bulk, and in the traditional category, August was the best month of the year so far, with volume of just under $16 billion. It was also better for the industry than the same month last year, when MICA members did $15.4 billion in traditional insurance and $3.2 billion in bulk. Application volume for August reached 156,899, also the second-best level of the year, up from 130,661 in July and 153,696 in August 2004. New pool risk written totaled $45.3 million, up from $22.1 million in July. The cure/default ratio for August was 78.7%, with 33,360 cures and 42,407 defaults. July's cure/default ratio of 69.9% was the worst of the year so far. MICA can be found online at http://www.micanews.com.