Mortgage Insurance Shows Renewed Strength in October

After experiencing a one-month lull, mortgage insurance activity picked up in October.

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According to data from ""Mortgage Insurance Companies of America"":http://www.privatemi.com/index.cfm (MICA), member companies wrote 42,833 insurance policies in October. In dollar volume, members reported $11.5 billion in insurance written throughout the month.

October's volume was a significant step up from September, which saw 37,554 policies totaling $10.1 billion. A year ago, member companies reported 26,293 policies written for $5.1 billion.

As of the end of the month, primary insurance in force totaled more than $400 billion, marking the first time in 2012 that insurance in force made it above that line.

October also saw a rise in the number of mortgage insurance applications--MICA reports 46,045 applications received throughout the month. Member companies reported 40,353 applications in September and 29,508 in October 2011.

Defaults fell as cures picked back up, with their numbers reaching 24,729 and 20,068, respectively. The cure/default ratio hit 81.1 percent, up from September's 75.7 percent.

Companies represented in October's report include ""Genworth Mortgage Insurance Corporation"":http://www.genworth.com/content/home.html, ""Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation"":http://www.mgic.com/, and ""Radian Guaranty Inc."":http://www.radian.biz/page?name=HomePage Data prior to January 2012 also included reports from ""Republic Mortgage Insurance Co."":http://www.rmic.com/Pages/default.aspx