Demotech Affirms Financial Stability of Title Insurance Industry
March 26, 2020
Demotech Inc. recently concluded that the nation's title underwriters are financially healthy and possess the means to address time gaps in coverage associated with the closing or limited hours of recording jurisdictions.
The precautionary effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 has created an operating environment in which few businesses are operating at full capacity. However, the title insurance industry has had in place for decades, procedures and practices to mitigate purchaser and lender exposure associated with unknown title matters emerging in the period subsequent to examination of title.
"Gaps in protection are unavoidable,” said Joseph Petrelli, president and co-founder of Demotech. “Backlogs at recorder offices and intervening matters subsequent to a search include the time commitment to process, record or index information. The effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and the resultant closings or limited hours at recorder offices has exacerbated the situation; however, this industry is well-positioned and possesses the capability to address gaps."
With more than $11 billion in net admitted assets and more than $5.6 billion of statutory net worth at year-end 2019, title underwriters are positioned to address the needs of the property owners as well as any stakeholders that might rely on that real property as collateral, added Paul Osborne, senior consultant at Demotech.
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