National Mortgage Insurance Corp. cut its losses in the latest quarter. But the mortgage insurance company also saw a reduction in its new business.
In the quarter that ended on March 31, 2016, new insurance written worked out to $4.254 billion.
Activity eased from the final quarter of last year, when volume came to $4.547 billion.
The Emeryville, California-based firm disclosed the details, along with other financial and operational metrics, in its first-quarter 2016 earnings report.
New business was significantly better, however, than $1.696 billion in new insurance written during the first-three months of last year.
Insurance in force ended last month at $18.564 billion.
National MI’s book of business grew from $14.824 billion as of Dec. 31, 2015, and just $4.835 billion as of March 31, 2015.
The mortgage insurer said it had 79,700 policies
in force as of the most-recent date. The number increased from 63,948 three months earlier and 21,225 twelve months earlier.
Just 55 loans insured by National MI were in default as of March 31, 2016.
The distressed count increased from 36 mortgages at the end of the fourth-quarter 2015 and just six loans at the end of the first-quarter 2015.
National MI had a $4 million first-quarter loss before income taxes. Losses were halved from a year previous.
