The relative stability of the housing market in the first quarter of 2024 resulted in a fairly strong quarter for the title insurance industry. According to the American Land Title Association (ALTA) Market Share Analysis released Thursday, the industry generated $3.35 billion in title insurance premiums during Q1 2024, down only 0.8% year over year.
In comparison, for full year 2023, title premium volume was down 31% annually.
Although title premium volume is still declining, ALTA said the industry remains in a strong financial position. It noted that total assets were roughly $11.3 billion for the quarter, while statutory surplus was $5.1 billion and statutory reserves were $5.7 billion.
Additionally, the industry paid out $161.1 million in claims, down from $162.6 million in Q1 2023.
The five states with the largest title premium volumes in 2023 were Texas ($492.94 million), Florida ($421.67 million), California ($292.67 million), New York ($190.59 million) and Pennsylvania ($128.44 million). The same five states held the top spots in full year 2023.
These five states recorded a mixed bag of year-over-year results. New York posted a 10.6% annual decline, followed by Texas at 5.7% and Pennsylvania at 3.6%. Meanwhile, Florida remained flat year over year and California posted a 3.1% annual increase.
Top underwriters for the quarter by market share included First American Title insurance Co. at 22.6%; Old Republic National Title Insurance Co. at 14.2%; Fidelity National Title Insurance at 13.9%; Chicago Title Insurance Co. at 12.8%; and Stewart Title Guaranty Co. at 9.9%.
Chicago Title is part of Fidelity. With 26.7% of the market, it was again the largest firm by share of premiums written during the first quarter of 2024.
In 2023, First American’s market share was 22%, while Old Republic’s was 15.2%, Fidelity’s was 26.4% and Stewart’s was 9.2%. Stewart has been looking to reclaim some of the share it lost in recent years. The firm’s market share was 10.62% as recently as 2019, and this is the closest Stewart has gotten to its 2019 market share in several quarters.
The other top 10 companies for Q1 2024 were Westcor Land Title Insurance Co. with 3.8% of the market, putting it in sixth place. Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Co. had 3.6%, Title Resources Guaranty Co. had 2.8%, WFG National Title Insurance Co. had 2.5% and Doma Title had 1.9%.
The same five firms rounded out the top 10 in 2023.
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 Q1 2024.
