Mortgage Insurance-in-Force Resumes Double-Digit Growth.

Arlington, VA -- Among the beneficiaries of the tighter mortgage market is the mortgage insurance industry, according to a report from analysts at Friedman Billings Ramsey here.

It issued the report following the release of the April activity statistics from the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America.

There was a total of $20.7 billion of primary insurance written, down 22% from March's $26.6 billion. However, the traditional category increased from $15.9 billion to $17.4 billion. This was the best month since June 2004 for traditional insurance.

Bulk insurance written, which the FBR analysts believe is the direction the industry is moving towards in the future, fell from $10.7 billion in March to $3.3 billion in April.

FBR noted that on a year-over-year basis, insurance-in-force is up by 11%, which it said is the best yearly growth rate in this decade.

"We attribute the higher traditional writings to the benefits of greater credit fears in the secondary mortgage market. With mortgage insurance policies already attached to specific loans, these loans are likely to be relatively more attractive in the secondary market than uninsured loans.

"As long as housing relative data appears negative, we suspect the demand for mortgage insurance will remain fairly robust. We also suspect that tax deductibility is benefiting traditional MI production," said the report written by Steve Stelmach and Paul Miller Jr.