Title insurance coverage premium quantity dropped 37% in Q2 2023

Title premium quantity continued to pattern downward in the course of the second quarter of 2023 as excessive mortgage charges and low housing stock continued to plague the actual property trade.

In the course of the second quarter, the title trade generated $3.91 billion in title insurance coverage premiums, down from $6.21 billion from a yr in the past, in response to the American Land Title Affiliation’s Market Share Analysis, launched Monday.

General, title premium quantity is down 40% year-over-year within the first half of 2023.

“Whereas title premium quantity decreased 37% in the course of the newest quarter, title insurance coverage professionals proceed to handle their companies by the difficult market and stay targeted on facilitating actual property transactions and defending property rights,” Diane Tomb, ALTA’s CEO, stated in an announcement.

Regardless of the drop in premium quantity, the commerce group stated the trade stays in a robust monetary place, with whole belongings coming at $11.6 billion, whereas the statutory surplus was at $5.2 billion and statutory reserves had been $5.9 billion.

Along with decrease premium quantity, the trade has additionally paid of $331.8 million in claims in the course of the first half of the yr, up from $277.2 million a yr in the past.

The 5 states with the most important title premium volumes in the course of the first quarter of the yr had been Texas ($594.236 million), Florida ($511.227 million), California ($358.767million), New York ($216.403 million), and Pennsylvania ($145.440 million). The identical 5 states held the highest spots in Q1 2022.

All 5 states recorded year-over-year decreases in title premiums in Q2 2023, with New York recording the most important yearly drop at 43.8%, and Florida recording the smallest annual drop at 33.6%.

Prime underwriters for the quarter by market share included First American Title insurance coverage Co. with 22.3%; Previous Republic Nationwide Title Insurance coverage Co. with 14.8%; Constancy Nationwide Title Insurance coverage with 14.1%; Chicago Title Insurance coverage Co. with 13.7%;  and Stewart Title Warranty Co. with 8.4%.

Nevertheless, it must be famous that Chicago Title is a part of Constancy. With 27.8% of the market, it was once more the most important firm by share of premiums written in the course of the second quarter of 2023.

Within the first quarter of 2023, First American’s market share was 23.0%, whereas Previous Republic’s was 15.5%, Constancy’s was 25.1% and Stewart’s was 9.6%. Stewart has been trying to reclaim a few of the title premium it misplaced in recent times. The agency’s market share was 10.62% as just lately as 2019.

Rounding out the highest 10 for Q2 2023 had been Westcor Land Title Insurance coverage Co. with 3.6% of the market, placing it in sixth place. Commonwealth Land Title Insurance coverage Co. had 3.5%, Title Assets Warranty Co. had 3.2%, WFG Nationwide Title Insurance coverage Co. had 2.5% of the market share, and Doma Title had 2.0%.

Though the “Massive 4” nonetheless command the overwhelming majority of the market with a mixed market share of 73.2%, their collective grip is just not what it as soon as was. In 2019, unbiased title underwriters akin to Westcor, WFG, and others had a mixed market share simply shy of 15%, which elevated to 26.7% in Q2 2023.