Mortgage insurers report higher earnings on less business

Radian Group bucked the earnings trend, reporting lower quarter-to-quarter earnings. It had net income of $181.1 million, compared with $193.4 million in the fourth quarter and $125.6 million in the first quarter of 2021.

However, unlike the other four stand-alone MI companies, Radian operates in other portions of the real estate transaction, including title insurance, through its homegenius business.

First quarter adjusted pretax operating income for the MI unit was $277.8 million, compared with $246.6 million in the fourth quarter and $175.7 million in the first quarter of 2021.

Meanwhile, homegenius reported increased pretax operating losses of $13.5 million in the first quarter, versus losses of $2.1 million in the fourth quarter and $10.4 million one year ago.

Radian’s NIW was $18.7 billion in the first quarter, compared with $23.7 billion in the fourth quarter and $20.2 billion in the first quarter of 2021.

The percentage of insured loans in default fell to 2.6% in the first quarter, from 2.9% quarter-to-quarter and 4.9% year-over-year. Radian’s delinquent inventory ended the quarter at 25,510 loans, compared with 29,061 in the fourth quarter, and 50,106 as of March 31, 2021.