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Another year of slow home sales resulted in a further decline in title insurance premium volume, according to the American Land Title Association (ALTA)’s Market Share Analysis report released Thursday.
In 2024, the title industry generated $16.2 billion in premiums, down 7% year over year. This comes after 2023 posted a 31% annual decline compared to 2022.
In addition to the decrease in premium volume generated, the title industry also paid more than $676 million in claims in 2024 — up from $638 million a year earlier.
“Despite ongoing challenges from limited housing inventory and elevated mortgage rates, title professionals remain steadfast in their role — protecting property rights and serving their communities,” Diane Tomb, the CEO of ALTA, said in a statement.
The five states with the largest title premium volumes in 2024 were Texas ($2.37 billion), Florida ($1.97 billion), California ($1.43 billion), New York ($937 million) and Pennsylvania ($639 million). The same five states held the top spots in 2023.
All five states posted year-over-year increases in volume in 2024, with California recording the largest increase at 10.1% and Florida posting the smallest gain at 3%.
Top underwriters by market share as of the third quarter of 2024 included First American Title insurance Co. at 22.2%, Fidelity National Title Insurance at 14.3%, Old Republic National Title Insurance Co. at 14.3%, Chicago Title Insurance Co. at 13.4% and Stewart Title Guaranty Co. at 9.2%.
Chicago Title is part of Fidelity. With 27.7% of the market, it was again the largest firm by share of premiums written in 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 as the firm’s market share was 10.6% as recently as 2019.
The other top 10 companies for Q3 2024 were Westcor Land Title Insurance Co. with 3.8% of the market, Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Co. (3.5%), Title Resources Guaranty Co. (2.9%), WFG National Title Insurance Co. (2.6%) and Doma Title (1.7%).
The same five firms rounded out the top 10 in 2023.
Although the so-called 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 2024.
