After a slow start to the year, the housing market picked up the pace during the second quarter. For the title insurance industry, this meant an uptick in title insurance premium volume, which came in at $4.09 billion for the quarter, according to the American Land Title Association (ALTA)’s Market Share Analysis that was published Thursday.
Second-quarter volume was up from $3.35 billion in Q1 2024 and $3.92 billion in Q1 2023. Additionally, the industry’s operating income was up 3.5%. Its financial position remained strong with total assets coming in at $11.3 billion, while statutory surplus was at $5 billion and statutory reserves were $5.6 billion.
Although premium volume was up, the industry has paid off more in claims during the first half of 2024 than in the first half of 2023. In the first six months of this year, paid claims reached $333.7 million, compared to $331.7 million for the same period in 2023.
“The second quarter results reflect the strength and adaptability of the title insurance industry as the housing market experiences slowly decreasing mortgage rates after peaking in October 2023,” Diane Tomb, the CEO of ALTA, said in a statement. “Title insurance professionals continue to play a critical role in preventing fraud and protecting property rights, ensuring secure real estate transactions in this evolving market.”
The five states with the largest title premium volumes in 2023 were Texas ($606.882 million), Florida ($525.727 million), California ($378.486 million), New York ($227.496 million) and Pennsylvania ($152.409 million). The same five states held the top spots in the first quarter of 2024.
All five states posted year-over-year increases in volume in Q2 2024, with California recording the largest increase at 5.5% and Texas posting the smallest at 2.1%.
Top underwriters for the quarter by market share included First American Title insurance Co. at 21.5%; Fidelity National Title Insurance at 15%; Old Republic National Title Insurance Co. at 14.4%; Chicago Title Insurance Co. at 13.8%; and Stewart Title Guaranty Co. at 8.7%.
Chicago Title is part of Fidelity. With 28.8% of the market, it was again the largest firm by share of premiums written during the second quarter of 2024.
In Q1 2024, First American’s market share was 22.6%, while Old Republic’s was 14.2%, Fidelity’s was 26.7% and Stewart’s was 9.9%. Stewart has been looking to reclaim some of the share it lost in recent years. The firm’s market share was 10.6% as recently as 2019.
The other top 10 companies for Q2 2024 were Westcor Land Title Insurance Co. with 3.6% of the market, Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Co. (3.5%), Title Resources Guaranty Co. (2.9%), WFG National Title Insurance Co. (2.6%) and Doma Title (1.8%). The same five firms rounded out the top 10 in Q1 2024.
Although the Big Four still command the overwhelming majority of the market with a combined market share of 73.4%, their collective grip is not what it once was. In 2019, independent title underwriters such as Westcor, WFG and others had a combined market share just shy of 15%, which increased to 26.6% in Q2 2024.