MGIC announced its monthly operating statistics today for August, showing an increase in mortgage insurance and a decrease in delinquencies.  New insurance written in August totalled $1.3 bln.  This is the highest level of the year, although July 2011, January 2011  and August of 2011 all stood at $1.2 bln.

The company also reported a decrease in the number of delinquent loans on its books, from 185,093 in July to 183,338 in August, also down 23.73% from one year ago (225,310 in Aug 2010).  The improving delinquency rate is attributable both to "cures" (borrowers who got caught up) as well as lower amount of new delinquencies in the month - 14,580 down from 15,187.

The increase in MI policies may also be boosted, in part by PMI's announcement that it was exiting the business on August 19th

  Change
  Aug-10 Apr-11 May-11 Jul-11 Aug-11 MoM YoY
Primary New Insurance Written ($ Billions) $1.2 B $0.9 B $1.0 B $1.2 B $1.3 B 7.69% 7.69%
Beginning Primary Delinquent Inventory
(# of loans)
229,012 195,885 189,433 184,452 185,093 0.35% -23.73%
Plus: New Notices 16,197 12,075 13,764 15,180 14,587 -4.07% -11.04%
Less: Cures 14,919 13,171 11,476 10,317 11,719 11.96% -27.31%
Less: Paids (including those charged to a deductible or captive) 3,984 4,643 4,539 3,727 4,047 7.91% 1.56%
Less: Rescissions and Denials 996 713 666 495 576 14.06% -72.92%
Ending Primary Delinquent Inventory (# of loans) 225,310 189,433 186,516 185,093 183,338 -0.96% -22.89%