Outlook for private mortgage insurers??? (PMI, loans, real estate, foreclosure)

[TN Lily]

What is the outlook for private mortgage insurers? With stringent underwriting and the requirement of more equity are many deals being processed with PMI? If borrowers must come up with a 20% down payment, there is not need for PMI, right?

MICA has a statement on its website responding to a blog defending the health and viability of this industry.

Statement by Mortgage Insurance Companies of America (MICA) [PrivateMI.com]

Does anyone know which blog this is in reference to?

Thanks in advance.

[SmartMoney]

I think people tend to overlook that the majority of loans that wound up in foreclosure courts were neither insured by PMI, nor FHA. In 2005, the industry drifted so far away from FHA mortgages, that HUD completely re-wrote their appraisal policy to bring it in line with conventional standards. Around the same time, 100% financing (without PMI), in the form of combo mortgages, along with other combination mortgages (80/20, 80/10/10 and 80/15/5) dominated the markets. I read somewhere that close to 75% of the mortgages in trouble had a 2nd lien.

Many of the insurance hits were when banks insured their portfolios post closing and at their own expense. This was far less common and not available through traditional PMI companies, but the likes of Lloyds of London and other insurers that were not typically involved in real estate (and not necessarily in America).

Any ill health of MICA occurred long before the burst of the real estate market, but they are playing a more active roll than they ever have before.

[TN Lily]

Thank you, SmartMoney.

I came across this piece on Genworth:

Genworth fortifies collapsing mortgage insurance business « HousingWire