5 Q1 TRENDS IN THE TITLE INDUSTRY YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

5 Q1 TRENDS
IN THE TITLE
INDUSTRY
YOU SHOULD
KNOW ABOUT
ARTESIAN TITLE
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HOMES.COM
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W W W . P I S T O N M A G A Z I N E . C O M
The Title Industry
Is Expected to
Remain Stable
As much as the housing market changes,
in 2018, there don’t seem to be any new
changes upcoming on the horizon. At least
for the next 12 to 24 months, according to
the latest Fitch Ratings Report. In the
company’s Fitch 2018 Outlook: U.S. Title
Insurance Industry, the report indicates
that the “ratings for the industry, on
balance, will remain at current levels over
the next 12-24 months.”
Title profit margins have been strong for
nearly three consecutive years, with 2018
expected to continue the trend. In 2017,
the first nine months of the year saw title
segment pretax operating margins
increasing to 11 percent. The year prior,
the margins increased by 10.5 percent.
Fitch’s Outlook is predicting 2018 profit
margins to either remain stable or to fall
by a very small amount.
Title Universal Loss Ratios Will
Hold Steady
In 2016, the title universal loss ratio fell to
4.3 percent; this was below the historical
long-term average. Through the first nine
months of 2017, the ratio dropped to 4.2
percent. While this number is known to
fluctuate throughout the year, 2018’s title
universal loss ratios are predicted to hold
at or near 2017’s numbers
Revenue Growth
Expected to Slow
The last two years were very good for title
companies, revenue-wise. Thanks to rising
housing prices, which rose by 7 percent in
September 2017, revenues were able to climb
by 3 percent during the first nine months of
2017. This was on-par with the average
annual growth rate of between 5 percent and
7 percent for the past three years.