November was the best month of 2010 so far for the nation's private mortgage insurers in terms of new insurance written (NIW), while it was the second best for new applications.
Furthermore, the cure/default ratio was back above 90% for the first time in three months, according to data from the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America.
There was $7.4 billion of primary new insurance written in November, up from $6.9 billion in October and $4.9 billion in November 2009. The bulk channel contributed $91 million to November's NIW total.
Applications submitted in November were 39,531, compared with 38,705 in October and 28,140 in November 2009.
This is the fourth consecutive month of elevated application volume for the private mortgage insurers, which are looking to regain market share from the Federal Housing Administration.
But the amount of primary insurance in force industry-wide continues to fall. At the end of November 2009, it was nearly $880 billion; one year later, it is $759 billion.
November's cure/default ratio is 94.7%, its highest point since May, with 58,015 cures and 61,262 new notices of default during the month.
