MGIC Investment Corporation (NYSE:MTG) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Timothy Mattke: Yes. I think as I said in the opening comments, demographics still remain strong over the long run. And we still think there’s a lot of pent-up demand for first-time home buyers. I think when rates rose as quick as they did, that has people stand by the sidelines, especially when you consider how much home prices that went up, so affordability gets stretched. I think once you get past the sticker shock of the higher interest rate and you look back and say, okay, do I feel comfortable in my job? Do I have a life event? Is it the right time to purchase the home? That shock of the higher interest rates, which just gets closer to longer-term sort of historical norms becomes less of an issue. And to the extent that home prices have come down a little bit and certain markets make it more affordable to that combination.

So again, I think over the long run, really attractive for first-time homebuyers and ultimately, that’s a big chunk of our market. I think there is just a little bit of sticker shock with affordability with both the double whammy of home price appreciation and rates. But I think that moderates over time, quite frankly.

Eric Hagen: Yes. That’s helpful. And then following up on the GSE changes. Can you talk about how much demand you’ve typically seen for the cohorts where they cut the fees the most? And then kind of that same point, like, can you talk about how much risk layering you guys have typically done in the 90-plus LTV bucket?

Timothy Mattke: Yes. We try to look at all the fee changes really combined, looking at what the GSEs did from October. And so it’s safe to say that a good chunk of our book gets affected by it. I think you put it all together, I don’t think we feel like there’s a very material change in what ultimately might flow to MI versus other sort of execution, some changes within the different categories, but it doesn’t feel like it’s dramatically expanded or narrowed the box of what would come to private MI.

Eric Hagen: Yes. And in that 90-plus LTV bucket, how much risk flaring have you guys typically done there?

Nathaniel Colson: Yes. Eric, it’s Nathan. I mean most of our business is done at the 90 LTV and above. So I think when we think about risk layering, we think about it as combinations of the highest LTV, so say, 97 LTV with higher DTI or lower FICO or things like that. And on some of those dimensions, if you look at above 45 DTI, for instance, and 97 LTV and below 680 FICO, the amount of business that we do that has, say, 2 of those factors is in the low single digits. I don’t have it exactly in front of me, but maybe 3% or 4% of our new businesses in that category. So not a lot of business, but if you include kind of 90 LTVs and up, that’s most of what we do just given the space that we operate in.

Operator: And I am showing no further questions. I would now like to turn the call back over to Tim for closing remarks.

Timothy Mattke: Thanks, Justin. I thank everyone for their interest MGIC. I thank all of our coworkers for another phenomenal year. And being Groundhog Day, hope that Punxsutawney Phil with only 6 more weeks to winter. Thanks, everyone.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

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