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Private mortgage insurers experienced a drop in business in August, though performance improved for insured loans.
[IMAGE]According to monthly statistics released by ""Mortgage Insurance Companies of America"":http://www.privatemi.com/index.cfm (MICA), member companies issued 46,051 policies in August, down from 50,575 in July. Activity was still higher than last year, [COLUMN_BREAK]
though, when members issued 43,949 policies. The drop came despite an increase in applications received in July.
Dollar volume of primary new insurance was also down, falling nearly $1.5 billion to $11.6 billion. Compared to last year, dollar volume was up a little more than $300 million.
Primary insurance in force totaled $415.5 billion as of August 31.
After bumping up slightly in July, application volume fell for the third time this year, decreasing to 48,038.
Meanwhile, loan performance picked up after deteriorating for four straight months. MICA members reported 18,729 cures and 20,008 defaults in August, bringing the cure/default ratio to 93.6 percent--up more than 15 percentage points in one month. The ratio topped out at 138.5 percent in March and had been on the decline ever since.
Statistics came from ""Genworth Mortgage Insurance Corporation"":https://www.genworth.com/, ""Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation"":http://www.mgic.com/, and ""Radian Guaranty Inc."":http://www.radian.biz/page?name=HomePage
