Fewer mortgages were insured by private mortgage insurers on a monthly basis. Loan performance on insured loans, however, improved.
Mortgage insurance companies issued 46,051 policies and certificates on $11.655 billion in residential loans during August.
New business dropped from the previous month, when primary new insurance was written on 50,575 home loans for $13.038 billion.
The total reflects activity at members of the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America, which reported that volume improved from the same month in 2012, when 43,949 mortgages were insured for $11.330 billion.
MICA data indicate that its members — Genworth Mortgage Insurance Corp., Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp., and Radian Guaranty Inc. — generated 357,711 new policies for $90.107 billion during the first eight months of 2013.
Radian previously reported that its new primary insurance written during just August was $4.7 billion, while MGIC reported $2.9 billion in new business. That put Genworth’s August activity at around $4.1 billion.
Based on the 48,038 applications received in August, versus the 53,502 received in July, business is likely to continue descending. However, the recent dip in rates could prompt a bigger share of new applications to convert to new policies and push business higher.
Despite the drop in new business, insurance in force climbed to $415.506 billion from $413.022 billion at the end of July. A year prior, the total was $397.531 billion.
Primary insurance defaults moved lower to 20,008 in August from 21,930 and were also down from 24,731 in August 2012.
Primary insurance cures, meanwhile, inched up to 18,729 from 17,156 in July and were 20,612 one year prior.
