Mortgage insurers lifted monthly business by more than a quarter, and volume surged by more than half from a year earlier. The sector also reported a decline in defaults.
March saw 30,080 mortgage insurance policies issued for $6.733 billion. Business grew from 24,879 policies issued the prior month for $5.400 billion.
The totals are based on business at members of the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America including Genworth Mortgage Insurance Corp., Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. and Radian Guaranty Inc.
Volume was 51 percent higher than March of last year, when 18,098 mortgage insurance policies were written for $4.447 billion. The improvement was even better when considering that the year-earlier statistics include activity from PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. and Republic Mortgage Insurance Co.
Year-to-date March 31 activity at MICA members was 76,863 policies for $17.102 billion.
The trade group reported that primary insurance in force continued contracting, finishing March at $396.568 billion. At the end of February, the total was $397.683 billion.
Defaults were down and cures were up.
MICA said primary insurance defaults declined to 21,624 from the previous month’s 24,405.
At the same time, primary insurance cures rose to 28,026 in March from 27,694.
