Title Insurance Services Industry Profile

The US title insurance industry includes about 100 licensed carriers with combined revenue of about $15 billion. Major companies include Fidelity National Financial, First American Title Insurance, Old Republic National Title, and Stewart Information Services. The industry is highly concentrated.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Home sales and mortgage refinancing are the primary drivers of demand for the title insurance industry. The profitability of individual companies depends on efficient operations because of the large volume of transactions. Large companies benefit from economies of scale in access to large accumulated databases of property records. Small companies can mainly compete by specializing in non-standard titles or in geographical regions that the large companies don't cover.

PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

The two types of title insurance policies are for owners and lenders, and may be issued for either residential or commercial properties. Most title companies get the majority of their revenue from the residential real estate market. Although commercial real estate transactions are generally larger, an estimated 80 percent of insurance volume is from residential properties. Both home sales and mortgage refinancing trigger the need for a title search and an insurance policy.

Title insurance is issued after a search of various public records to establish who owns the title to a property and to uncover any existing liens, use restrictions, or ownership interest held by any other party. Owner policies protect the owner against defects in the title that existed at the time ...