The title industry experienced quite a rush in the second quarter of 2020 with $4.18 billion in title insurance premiums generated. According to a report from the American Land Title Association, family markets made up nearly 81% of those gains while independent companies shared what remained.
Below are the top 4 companies in title by market share for the second quarter. Companies that constitute themselves within the family market – those that have a “family” of companies under their operating umbrella – made up 80.5% in total volume:
- Fidelity: 32.7%
- First American: 23.0%
- Old Republic: 14.8%
- Stewart: 10.1%
Independent companies made up the remaining 19.5% in volume. Here are the top 5:
- Westcor Land Title Insurance: 5.9%
- WFG National Title Insurance: 3%
- Title Resources Guaranty: 2%
- North American Title Insurance: 2%
- First National Title Insurance: 1%
The top performing companies in family markets remained the same since the previous quarter, however in terms of independent companies, Alliance National Title Insurance and Connecticut Attorneys Title fell off ALTA’s top list in the second quarter.
ALTA reported the title insurance industry generated $3.92 billion in title insurance premiums in the first quarter, however family markets made up a slightly larger share in June’s report at 82.2%.
According to ALTA CEO Diane Tomb, although the industry isn’t experiencing the near-historic origination volume that graced the first quarter, the majority of the country is still trending upwards. Second quarter premiums written increased 8% compared with the second quarter of 2019 in 45 states.
Some states, on the other hand, outperformed millions of dollars ahead of others for premium gains. Texas took the No. 1 spot with an estimated $562 million in the second quarter – though no surprise as Realogy Title Group and Notarize reported a 200% spike in remote online notarizations in the first half of 2020 with demand particularly strong in Florida and Texas.
The sunshine state placed third in title insurance premium volume with nearly $430 million – fifty million less than the second-place seed, California, that originated a whopping $480 million in premiums.
Despite evidence of an urban exodus, the state of New York attained fourth place though was less than half of its third place predecessor with $197 million. That number is nearly 30% less than what it was first quarter. Texas also saw a decrease from the previous quarter, however 3.1%, while the other states experienced gains.
Pennsylvania took fifth place with $166 million in title insurance premium volume.
