New business fell to the lowest level in 10 months and has been down for five consecutive months at MGIC Guaranty Insurance Corp. Annual activity, however, strengthened as delinquency fell for the 17th consecutive month.
Last month’s primary insurance written at the Milwaukee-based company came in at $2.1 billion, according to operational data.
Activity slowed from November 2013, when MGIC insured $2.2 billion in residential loans.
Business at the mortgage insurer has been worse each month since July 2013, when volume totaled $3.2 billion.
In December 2012, the mortgage insurer wrote $2.2 billion in new business.
The last time activity was this slow at MGIC was in February 2013, when just $1.9 billion in mortgages were insured.
On a full-year basis, policies written amounted to $29.8 billion during 2013, better than $24.2 billion the prior year.
MGIC said it ended last month with 103,328 delinquent policies, fewer than the 104,637 past-due policies a month earlier and 139,845 delinquent policies a year earlier.
Based on an estimated policies in force of 963,059 as of Dec. 31, 2013, the estimated delinquency rate was 10.73 percent — lower than an estimated 10.84 percent the prior month.
The past-due rate has plummeted since the end of 2012, when 13.90 percent of outstanding policies were delinquent.
The last time delinquency moved higher was in July 2012, when the estimated delinquency rate was 14.75 percent.
