Financial research concept

Mortgage Insurance Annual Persistency

Mortgage insurance annual persistency measures the percentage of insurance that remains in force from one year earlier.

By Lee BaileyPublished Sep 24, 2026
Research context

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Research date
Sep 24, 2026Use the dated article and cited sources for the definition, examples, and stated limitations.
Operating-model context
18 connected conceptsPart of the reviewed Mortgage Insurance Operating Economics; issuer definitions remain distinct where disclosed.
Company examples
1 reviewed companyRelationships reflect supported examples, not a normalized cross-company KPI ranking.
  1. Why it matters
  2. Investor caution
  3. Part of the Mortgage Insurance Operating Economics
  4. See It in Company Research
  5. Continue Research

mortgage insurance annual persistency measures the percentage of insurance that remains in force from one year earlier.

Why it matters

Persistency determines how long an insurer continues earning premiums on an existing mortgage-insurance book. MGIC reported annual persistency of 84.8% at December 31, 2025. Higher mortgage rates can support persistency by reducing refinancing, while rising borrower equity can cause policies to cancel when mortgage insurance is no longer required.

Investor caution

Persistency is not customer retention in the usual subscription sense. Policies can terminate because of refinancing, principal amortization, home-price appreciation, claim payment, or other cancellation events, and the earnings effect can differ between monthly and single-premium policies.

Primary source: MGIC Investment Corporation 2025 Form 10-K.

Part of the Mortgage Insurance Operating Economics

Connect new insured business, portfolio runoff and persistency, insured exposure, premium yield, credit performance, and PMIERs capital capacity to understand private mortgage-insurance economics.

How the model fits together
  • New business quality and insured-book growth: New insurance written adds insured principal to the portfolio, while cancellations and principal payments reduce the existing book. FICO, LTV, DTI, and purchase mix describe important underwriting characteristics of new business, and the resulting flows determine insurance in force and risk in force without making principal balance equivalent to insured loss exposure.
  • Persistency and premium monetization: Annual persistency describes how much insurance remains from the prior year. In-force portfolio yield measures the underlying direct premium rate on the insured book, total direct premium yield incorporates direct premium adjustments, and net premium yield reflects the additional effect of ceded and assumed premium economics.
  • Credit performance and capital capacity: Insured-loan count is the denominator behind delinquency statistics, delinquent inventory and the delinquency rate show emerging credit stress, and claims received inventory is a later-stage credit measure. PMIERs available assets and excess available assets connect that risk profile to GSE-required capital capacity without equating regulatory eligibility assets with distributable cash.

See It in Company Research

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