For 62 years, the availability of private mortgage insurance (PMI) has helped millions of borrowers who have insufficient funds for a 20 percent down payment access homeownership. This chartbook quantifies the role of PMI in the agency mortgage market, detailing which borrowers use PMI, how they compare with borrowers who use other forms of mortgage insurance, how PMI-insured loans perform, and the role of PMI in reducing loss to investors. This 2019 publication updates our 2017 publication, which was released as a data supplement to a comprehensive report on the past, present, and future of the PMI industry, Sixty Years of Private Mortgage Insurance in the United States.

This chartbook was revised December 20, 2019. On pages 39 and 40, the credit score ranges in the text were corrected to match the ranges in their corresponding charts—that is, 700 and above and 680 and above. Also on page 40, the statement regarding borrowers with an 85 percent LTV ratio says “PMI is more economical than FHA across the FICO spectrum”; in a previous version, “PMI” and “FHA” were reversed.