Title premiums show annual growth

Title insurance premiums increased 1.4 percent from a year ago during the third quarter, the first year-over-year growth in more than three years, the American Land Title Association reported.

ALTA's preliminary Third-Quarter Market Share Report showed the title insurance industry generating $2.51 billion in premiums during the quarter ending Sept. 30, with revenue increasing in 32 of 50 states compared to a year ago. It was the first year-over-year increase for the industry as a whole following 13 consecutive quarters of declines, the group said.

California generated the most title insurance premiums -- $396.3 million, up 13.3 percent from a year ago, followed by Texas ($270.7 million, down 9.9 percent), Florida ($178.5 million, down 16 percent), New York ($148.7 million, down 26.1 percent), and Pennsylvania ($112.7 million, up 5.1 percent).

ALTA's numbers also show the industry's top two underwriters losing market share to the other "big four" national underwriters and also regional companies.

Fidelity National Financial Inc. -- the industry leader since acquiring bankrupt LandAmerica Financial Group Inc.'s underwriting companies in December -- saw its market share plummet from 45.8 percent in the second quarter to 39.6 percent.

After the acquisition, Fidelity fired 2,300 former LandAmerica employees and closed 240 offices in 2009. That means for the near term, the former LandAmerica subsidiaries --  Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Co., Lawyers Title Insurance Corp., and United Capital Title Insurance Co. -- won't be handling the volume of business that they once did, the company says. ...CONTINUED

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