Enact Holdings Inc

NASDAQ:ACT

Earnings Call Analysis

Enact Reports Strong Q3 2024 Results with Increased Earnings and Shareholder Returns

In the third quarter of 2024, Enact exhibited robust financial performance with a net income of $181 million, up from $164 million the previous year. Adjusted operating income rose 11% year-over-year to $182 million, translating to an EPS of $1.16. The company's primary insurance in force increased by 2% to $268 billion. Despite a challenging market, Enact maintained a solid persistency rate of 83%. They returned $100 million to shareholders, projecting total returns between $300 million and $350 million for the year. Sustained credit quality and elevated portfolio resiliency were highlighted alongside a robust capital position, with PMIER sufficiency at 173%.

Solid Financial Performance in a Dynamic Environment

In the third quarter of 2024, Enact Holdings demonstrated resilience with a notable financial performance. The company reported a GAAP net income of $181 million, translating to $1.15 per diluted share, which reflects an increase from $1.02 per diluted share in the same period last year. Adjusted operating income was recorded at $182 million or $1.16 per diluted share, a significant rise of 11% year-over-year. With a solid return on equity (ROE) standing at 15%, investors can take comfort in the company's stability amidst fluctuating market conditions.

Growth in Insurance and Premiums

At the quarter's end, Enact's primary insurance in force rose to $268 billion, marking a $2 billion increase sequentially and a $6 billion boost compared to the previous year. This growth was backed by the company's strategy to tap into attractive market segments. The net premiums earned were $249 million, reflecting a 2% increase both sequentially and year-over-year, driven mainly by insurance force growth influenced by strategic opportunities in adjacent markets, particularly through its Enact Re's GSE CRT participation.

Managing the Impact of Mortgage Rate Volatility

Despite higher mortgage rates impacting overall production, Enact reported an elevated persistency rate of 83%, which remained flat sequentially but fell by 1 percentage point year-over-year. Meanwhile, a significant 70% of the portfolio has mortgage rates below 6%. This favorable distribution positions Enact to weather the challenges posed by rising interest rates, as the elevated persistency is expected to cushion the effects of decreased production in a high-rate environment.

Improvements in Investment Returns

Investment income also saw positive movement, amounting to $61 million, which is an increase of 11% year-over-year. The New Money investment yield exceeded 5%, contributing to an overall portfolio book yield of 3.9%. As interest rates rise, the firm expects further yield improvements as their investment portfolio continues to roll over. This enhanced yield underscores Enact's strategic focus on maintaining a high-quality asset portfolio.

Effective Capital Allocation and Return to Shareholders

Enact's approach to capital allocation is commendable, emphasizing both shareholder returns and maintaining a robust balance sheet. In the third quarter, the company returned $100 million to shareholders via share repurchases and dividends, bringing the total to $283 million in 2024. The company is poised to stay within the upper half of its guidance range for total capital return of $300 million to $350 million in 2024. This disciplined strategy not only reinforces investor confidence but also signals a commitment to delivering value to stakeholders.

Navigating Credit Quality and Delinquencies

On the credit front, Enact reported total losses of $12 million, translating to a loss ratio of 5%. While new delinquencies increased sequentially to 13,000, the company noted that its credit portfolio remains strong, largely benefiting from robust cure rates. A significant portion of new delinquencies had substantial embedded equity; 92% had at least 10% equity, which provides a buffer against loss severity. Furthermore, favorable credit performance led to a reserve release of $65 million during the quarter.

Maintaining Cost Discipline

Operating expenses in the third quarter totaled $56 million, maintaining a low expense ratio of 22%. This marks an improvement compared to previous quarters, exemplifying Enact's commitment to cost control without compromising growth initiatives. The company anticipates its total expenses, excluding one-time restructuring costs, will fall within the guidance range of $220 million to $225 million for the fiscal year 2024.

Outlook and Strategic Growth Initiatives

Looking ahead, Enact's management expressed confidence in the long-term dynamics of its market, reiterating its commitment to continue driving organic growth and exploring strategic opportunities. The favorable macroeconomic environment, coupled with the company's proactive strategies in mortgage insurance and risk management, sets a strong foundation for future growth. Moreover, the recent S&P rating for Enact Re, an A- with a stable outlook, exemplifies the effective execution of its strategic initiatives aimed at expanding its addressable market.

Conclusion: A Strong Position Amid Uncertainties

In summary, Enact Holdings showcases a robust financial performance with consistent growth in critical areas such as insurance in force and investment income. With prudent capital management and a focus on credit quality, the firm stands well-positioned to navigate the dynamic and sometimes volatile housing market. Investors can find reassurance in the company's strategic direction, which strives to enhance shareholder value while maintaining operational resilience.

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q3

[Operator]

Good day, and welcome to the Enact Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to hand the call to Daniel Kohl, Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

[Daniel Kohl, executive]

Thank you, and good morning. Welcome to our third quarter earnings call. Joining me today are Rohit Gupta, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Dean Mitchell, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Rohit will provide an overview of our business performance and progress against our strategy. Dean will then discuss the details of our quarterly results before turning the call back to Rohit for closing remarks. We will then take your questions.

The earnings materials we issued after market close yesterday contain our financial results for the quarter, along with a comprehensive set of financial and operational metrics. These are available on the Investor Relations section of our website. Today's call is being recorded and will include the use of forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current assumptions, estimates, expectations and projections as of today's date.

Additionally, they are subject to risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to be materially different and we undertake no obligation to update or revise such statements as a result of new information. For a discussion of these risks and uncertainties, please review the cautionary language regarding forward-looking statements in today's press release as well as in our filings with the SEC, which will be available on our website. Please keep in mind the earnings materials and management's prepared remarks today include certain non-GAAP measures. Reconciliations of these measures to the most relevant GAAP metrics can be found in the press release, our earnings presentation and our upcoming SEC filing on our website.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Rohit.

[Rohit Gupta, executive]

Thank you, Daniel. Good morning, everyone. Before discussing our third quarter results, I would like to start by acknowledging the devastation that has recently affected the Southeast. Our thoughts go out to everyone affected by the recent hurricanes. As a company that calls North Carolina Home, we were especially saddened by the brutal toll Helene took on Western North Carolina. Since Helene, Enact and its employees have mobilized to help the victims in several ways, including volunteering at a local food bank launching a relief effort to collect much needed items and donating to relief efforts through the Enact foundation and employee giving campaign.

Enact is deeply engaged in the communities we serve and philanthropy and volunteerism are at the core of our culture. We know that recovery from events such as these takes time, and we will continue supporting the impacted communities as they rebuild. Turning back to the business and our third quarter performance, we delivered another set of excellent results driven by continued execution against our priorities and favorable market dynamics. We reported adjusted operating income of $182 million, up 11% year-over-year. Adjusted EPS was $1.16. Adjusted return on equity was a solid 15% and our adjusted book value per share was $33.27, up 3% sequentially and 10% year-over-year.

Turning to the operating backdrop. We continue to operate in a dynamic environment. And while there are potential macroeconomic risks, the U.S. economy remains strong. During the quarter, the consumer and labor market remained healthy. Wages grew and inflation continued to slow. In addition, while constrained housing supply and higher mortgage rates continue to influence the housing market in the short term, the long-term drivers of demand remain intact.

Against this backdrop, our credit and manufacturing quality continues to be strong, resulting in high-quality NIW and a portfolio with considerable embedded equity. We continue to observe elevated persistency in the quarter. Although quarterly fluctuations may occur due to volatility in underlying market rates, we expect persistency to remain elevated relative to historical trends. This helps to offset the impact of higher mortgage rates as demonstrated by our record insurance in force of $268 billion.

At the end of third quarter, 70% of our insurance in force has mortgage rates that are lower than 6%. The credit quality of our insured portfolio remains strong. At quarter end, the risk-weighted average FICO score of the portfolio was 745, the risk weighted average loan-to-value ratio was 93% and layered risk was 1.3% of risk in force. Pricing remained constructive in the quarter, and we maintained our commitment to prudent underwriting standards. Our pricing engine allows us to deliver competitive pricing on a risk-adjusted basis and we continue to underwrite and select risk prudently while generating attractive returns.

New delinquencies rose in the quarter, primarily driven by seasonality and the aging of our newer books. These were substantially offset by cures, which continued to be elevated above pre-pandemic levels, reflecting the continued resilience of our portfolio. In addition, a significant portion of our delinquent portfolio continues to have considerable embedded equity, which could be a mitigant to both frequency and severity of claims. We believe credit performance continues to progress in line with our expectations as newer books go through their normal loss curves and seasonal delinquency patterns. Dean will elaborate on that performance shortly.

I mentioned that our credit portfolio remained strong. And during the quarter, we released reserves of $65 million as a result of favorable credit performance and our proactive loss mitigation efforts. We continue to see strong cure performance and remain well reserved for a range of scenarios. We continue to carefully manage our expenses during the quarter, maintaining a focus on controlling costs and driving efficiencies while also investing in technologies and processes that improve the customer experience and our business operations.

Overall, despite the inflationary environment, our full year 2024 expenses before nonrecurring restructuring costs are on track to be flat to down as compared to 2023. I'll shift now to our capital position, which remain robust. At quarter end, our PMIER sufficiency was 173% or $2.2 billion of sufficiency and approximately 79% of our risk in force was subject to credit risk transfers. Our capital position and cash flows have enabled us to effectively pursue our capital allocation priorities. These priorities in order include supporting our policyholders by maintaining a strong balance sheet, Investing in our business will drive organic growth and efficiencies, funding attractive new business opportunities to diversify our platform and returning capital to shareholders.

As it relates to the first priority, I've already discussed our strong capital position, which remains well in excess of PMIERs requirements. For our second priority, we continue to invest in initiatives to drive growth in our core MI business, including pursuing opportunities to deepen our existing relationships with lenders through technology enhancements, customer engagement, and making investments to improve the efficiency of our operation.

Our third priority is to evaluate strategic opportunities that expand our addressable market in compelling adjacencies that leverage core capabilities across mortgage, housing and credit. Just over a year ago, we successfully launched an Enact Re to take advantage of the opportunity we saw to expand our platform into the GSE credit risk transfer market. Enact Re has performed well, maintaining strong underwriting standards and an attractive return profile, and we have continued to participate in the GSE CRT transactions that came to the market. Additionally, we achieved an important milestone this quarter with S&P assigning an A- rating and a stable ratings outlook to Enact Re. S&P's action is a testament to our successful launch of Enact Re and will allow us to further optimize our capital and enhance and expand our ability to explore additional commercial opportunities.

Enact Re is sufficiently funded to support its growth for the foreseeable future and remains a long-term capital and expense efficient growth opportunities. Finally, in the third quarter, we again delivered on our commitment to return capital to our shareholders by returning $100 million through share buybacks and our quarterly dividend. As of October 31, we have returned a total of $283 million to shareholders via share repurchases and dividends, positioning us to be in the upper half of our $300 million to $350 million guidance range for 2024.

We remain committed to a disciplined and strategic approach to capital allocation, which balances liquidity and balance sheet strength, investment and capital return to shareholders.

In closing, we are proud of our strong performance in the quarter and year-to-date and are grateful for our team's relentless focus on executing against our strategic priorities and delivering strong financial results. Looking ahead, we remain committed to driving shareholder value as we navigate through this dynamic environment. With that, I will now turn the call over to Dean.

[Hardin Mitchell, executive]

Thanks, Rohit. Good morning, everyone. We delivered another set of very strong results in the third quarter of 2024. GAAP net income was $181 million or $1.15 per diluted share compared to $1.02 per diluted share in the same period last year and $1.16 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2024. Return on equity was 15%. Adjusted operating income was $182 million or $1.16 per diluted share compared to $1.02 per diluted share in the same period last year and $1.27 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2024. Adjusted operating return on equity was 15%.

Turning to revenue drivers. Primary insurance in force increased to $268 billion in the third quarter, up $2 billion sequentially and up $6 billion or 2% year-over-year. New insurance written was approximately $14 billion, flat sequentially and down 6% year-over-year primarily driven by lower estimated market share. Persistency was 83% in the third quarter, flat sequentially and down 1 percentage point year-over-year. Our portfolio remains resilient to mortgage rate volatility with 8% of the mortgages in our portfolio, having rates at least 50 basis points above the October 31st mortgage rate.

Additionally, 70% of our portfolio has a mortgage rate below 6%. With these facts and continued volatility in mortgage rates, we anticipate the elevated persistency will continue to help offset lower production in the current higher rate environment. Net premiums earned were $249 million, up $4 million or 2% sequentially and up $6 million or 2% year-over-year. The sequential and year-over-year increases in net premiums were driven by insurance and force growth, and our growth in attractive adjacencies, consisting primarily of Enact Re's GSE CRT participation.

These increases were partially offset by higher ceded premiums. Our base premium rate of 40.2 basis points was down 0.1 basis points sequentially and flat year-over-year. As a reminder, our base premium rate is relatively stable though several factors tend to modestly impact fluctuations from quarter-to-quarter. Our net earned premium rate was 36.3 basis points, down 0.1 basis points sequentially as higher ceded premiums offset the increase in single premium cancellations. Investment income in the third quarter was $61 million, up $1 million or 2% sequentially and up $6 million or 11% year-over-year.

Elevated interest rates have increased our investment portfolio yields, and as our portfolio rolls over, we anticipate further yield improvement. During the quarter, our new money investment yield continued to exceed 5%, contributing to an overall portfolio book yield of 3.9%. Our focus remains on high-quality assets and maintaining a resilient A-rated portfolio.

As we have previously stated, while we typically hold investments to maturity, we may selectively pursue income enhancement opportunities. This does not change our view that our investment portfolio's unrealized loss position is materially noneconomic. Turning to credit. Losses in the third quarter of 2024 were $12 million, and the loss ratio was 5% compared to negative $17 million or negative 7%, respectively, in the second quarter of 2024, and $18 million and 7%, respectively, in the third quarter of 2023.

Our losses and loss ratio increased sequentially, primarily driven by a lower reserve release in the current quarter and higher new delinquencies. Year-over-year, our losses and loss ratio in the current quarter decreased primarily driven by continued favorable cure and loss mitigation activity, leading to a $65 million reserve release. This compares to reserve releases of $77 million and $55 million in the second quarter of 2024 and third quarter of 2023, respectively. As a reminder, last quarter, we lowered our claim rate expectations on both existing and new delinquencies from 10% to 9%, reflecting continued strong cure performance and our current market expectations while remaining aligned with our measured and prudent approach to loss reserves.

We maintained the 9% claim rate on new delinquencies for the third quarter. New delinquencies increased sequentially to 13,000 from 10,500 and our new delinquency rate for the quarter was 1.4%, reflective of ongoing positive credit trends and driven by historical seasonality in the aging of our newer books as they go through their normal loss curves and seasonal patterns. During the quarter, we experienced modest impact from hurricane Beryl related delinquencies, but expect a more meaningful impact from Hurricanes Helene and Milton beginning in the fourth quarter.

As a reminder, we have historically seen hurricane-related new delinquencies cure at a very high rate as our policy requires the homes to be inhabitable before we pay a claim. Total delinquencies in the third quarter increased sequentially to 21,000 from 19,100 as news outpaced cures. Cures, however, remained robust as our cure rate of 57% remains significantly elevated as compared to pre-pandemic levels. The primary delinquency rate for the quarter was 2.2% compared to 2% sequentially and year-over-year. Putting it all together, we believe credit performance remained strong in the quarter, bolstered by ongoing macroeconomic resiliency, high credit quality underwriting and strong embedded equity.

Operating expenses in the third quarter of 2024 were $56 million and the expense ratio was 22% compared to $56 million and 23%, respectively, in the second quarter of 2024 and $55 million and 23%, respectively, in the third quarter of 2023. The current quarter and second quarter 2024 reflect expense actions taken that resulted in onetime expenses of $1 million and $3 million, respectively. As Rohit mentioned, we remain committed to disciplined expense management, while also investing in our business to support growth. And during the quarter, we invested in initiatives to further modernize our technology solutions. We expect our full year expenses excluding onetime charges to fall within our guidance range of $220 million to $225 million.

We continue to operate from a strong capital and liquidity position, reinforced by our robust PMIER sufficiency and the continued successful execution of our diversified CRT program. As of September 30, 2024, our third-party CRT program provides $1.8 billion of PMIERs capital credit. Our PMIER sufficiency was 173% or $2.2 billion above PMIERs requirements at the end of the third quarter. As a reminder, in the second quarter of 2024, we further strengthened our balance sheet through our $750 million debt offering, which was used to refinance our 2025 notes.

The offering extended our maturities while also reducing our annualized interest expense by $2 million. Let me now turn to capital allocation. During the quarter, we paid approximately $29 million or $0.185 per common share through our quarterly dividend. Today, we announced the fourth quarter dividend of $0.185 per common share payable, December 5th. Additionally, we continue to deliver on our share buyback program, repurchasing 2.1 million shares at a weighted average share price of $34.04 for an approximate total of $71 million in the quarter.

In October, we've repurchased an additional 0.8 million shares at a weighted average share price of $35.89 for an approximate total of $30 million. As of October 31, 2024, there was approximately $137 million remaining on our $250 million repurchase authorization. As Rohit noted, our total capital return to date 2024 is $283 million, and we expect to be in the upper end of our full year $300 million to $350 million guidance provided last quarter, reflecting our continued strong performance and balance sheet.

Overall, we are incredibly pleased with our performance to date. We believe we are well positioned to close out 2024 on a strong note and we'll remain focused on prudently managing risk and expenses, maintaining a strong balance sheet and driving solid returns for our shareholders.

With that, I'll turn the call back over to Rohit.

[Rohit Gupta, executive]

Thanks, Dean. As I reflect on our performance and I look to the remainder of 2024 and beyond, I continue to believe that the long-term dynamics of our market remain compelling. Our product continues to help people responsibly, achieve the dream of home ownership and our dedication to this principle underpins all aspects of our business and drives our efforts to deliver exceptional value for all of our stakeholders. Operator, we are now ready for Q&A.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions]

And our first question will come from Doug Harter of UBS.

[Douglas Harter, analyst]

I was hoping you could talk about the competitive dynamics in the industry right now. You had one competitor take significant share in the quarter, kind of what you're seeing in terms of pricing and level of competition?

[Rohit Gupta, executive]

Sure. Good morning, Doug. Thank you for your question. So our perspective is that MI pricing continues to be competitive, but also constructive. The expected pricing returns, as we have said in the past, they continue to remain attractive within our risk-adjusted return appetite. And we remain confident in our ability to write new business that delivers attractive returns and creates value for our shareholders across a range of scenarios. So I would just say we are happy with our new insurance written of $13.5 billion. We like the pricing. We like the underwriting quality.

And as I said in my prepared remarks, the credit quality, manufacturing quality continues to be very strong. So we are happy with our production, and we generally see pricing as constructive in the market.

[Operator]

The next question comes from Mihir Bhatia of Bank of America.

[Mihir Bhatia, analyst]

Maybe just to start first on the hurricane and how you're going to reserve for the hurricane delinquencies. I understand that there won't be typically, you see a lot of cure activity or not a lot of claim activity because of the property damage. But when you reserve for it, how are you going to go about reserving for it?

[Hardin Mitchell, executive]

Yes, Mihir, it's Dean. Thanks for the question. As we mentioned in our prepared remarks, we did have some modest impact this quarter from hurricane Beryl. I think about 300 new delinquencies this quarter changes the trajectory of sequential variance from 24% to 21% or it takes the new [indiscernible] from 1.4 to 1.3. So a pretty modest impact. We made no adjustments to our reserving this quarter for Beryl related delinquencies. At the same time, as you know, the severity of each hurricane is unique. And it certainly appears that Hurricane Helene and Milton will have a little bit of a sharper maybe broader impact than hurricane Beryl.

We haven't seen any reporting to date. We do expect that to start coming in the fourth quarter. In terms of how we reserve, we'll wait to see what's reported. I guess the reminder here, and we'll take this into consideration as we think about the appropriate claim rate to assign on those hurricane-related delinquencies, is that our historical experience with hurricane-related delinquencies shows that they cure at a very elevated rate with, again, very limited claim activity. So more to come on exactly how we'll handle Helene and Milton and it will be somewhat determined by the magnitude of the reporting next quarter.

[Mihir Bhatia, analyst]

Got it. And then I wanted to ask about Essent Re. It's starting to grow a little bit, starting to drive a little bit more. I know it's embedded in the reported on the income statement on the premium income, but you do break it out on the slide. I guess the question is just on Essent Re. Are we at scale now? Is it going to continue to grow and drive more premium revenue quarter-over-quarter because it's been growing pretty nicely so far. So just trying to understand how much more growth we should embed in our models for it over the next year or two.

[Rohit Gupta, executive]

Yes. So your question on Enact Re is a good one because we launched Enact Re about 6 quarters ago, 5 or 6 quarters ago. And when we launched Enact Re, our primary intent was to actually take advantage of our core competencies and our existing infrastructure and scale to enter an adjacent space on an attractive return for our shareholders, and that's what we have done.

As I said in my prepared remarks, we have participated in GSE transactions that came to the market in the quarter. But I would also say that given how we structured the entity and the capital expense and capital efficient way, our journey on Enact Re is much more longer term that it's going to grow over a period of time. So we'll measure that success in quarters and years, not in months. We are happy with the growth we are seeing in Enact Re. We are happy with the returns we are seeing in Enact Re and will provide more visibility in the future. But at this point of time, I would say just given the size of originations market, which has been suppressed just given the mortgage rates as well as kind of GSE reinsurance transactions, I would just think of this as gradual growth over a period of time. So look forward to having that discussion in the future. But at this point of time, we think of that as prudent growth at attractive returns over a period of time.

[Mihir Bhatia, analyst]

Okay. And then my last question, just on housing policy. Obviously, new administration coming in, in January. Look, I get the general idea that historically, Republicans have less regulatory focused, a little bit maybe lighter regulatory touch. But are there any specific regulations that we should be keeping an eye out whether from a rollback perspective, whether from something that's inhibiting your growth, something that you're particularly paying attention to that you're looking for the new administration to either roll back, change, implement anything specific we should be looking at keeping an eye out for?

[Rohit Gupta, executive]

Yes. Thank you, Mihir. So a very appropriate question, given what we are seeing out of elections coming out of elections. I would just say, starting off, there are still seats remaining on the House side, which will determine the kind of composition of Congress. So I look forward to seeing how that comes together, especially on the health side. And then also, I think it will be important to see appointments in key regulatory roles. I think post Collin's decision, we know that there will be -- there can be changes in regulatory rules, so we have to see who are the individuals who end up in those key roles.

And obviously, I'm referring to FHFA, HUD, FHA, CFPB, those roles are impactful to our industry when it comes to mortgage finance. But I would also say our product is well received by both sides of the aisle. When you think about who our products support every day, we support homebuyers who are most in need and at the same time, we've put our capital in front of taxpayer money every day. So the product has appeal on both sides of the aisle. And if you think about the last 2 administrations in the last 8 years, we have navigated well under both administrations. So I would say too early to speculate right now on like regulatory changes or regulatory implementations, but I would just generally say our track record shows that we navigate well as an industry under either administration and actually have very good relationships.

I think this is an important point. Our industry has very good relationships both on the regulatory and legislative side, which helps us kind of make sure that our advocacy and our view is heard.

[Operator]

Next question comes from Bose George of KBW.

[Bose George, analyst]

Actually going back to credit, I wanted to ask what do you see as a normalized delinquency ratios for the portfolio as it seasons? And can you just talk about the time line to -- as these portfolios to get fully seasoned.

[Hardin Mitchell, executive]

Yes. Bose, thanks for the question. So normal or average delinquency development curves generally start to increase, obviously, from the books origination and generally peak between years 3 and years 4. Peak is a little bit of a misnomer. It's kind of plateau. So it kind of levels off generally in that 3- to 4-year time horizon and then takes 12 to 18 months, later it starts to fall. But I think looking that on average is -- can be a challenge. The real answer to the question is the level of delinquencies on each book is very dependent on both the credit characteristics of the insured loans as well as the macroeconomic conditions that each book is really aging through.

If I try to crystallize that, maybe just by way of example, the 2021 book year, which saw a much heavier concentration in refinance originations. So it has lower loan to values, it has lower debt to income, and it has marginally higher FICOs. It also has meaningful embedded equity given the environment that it's seasoned through. So we would expect that '21 book year to produce lower delinquencies than, say, the 2022 book which had a higher concentration of purchase originations, so higher LTVs, higher DTIs and marginally lower FICOs. It also -- the '22 book, while it has some embedded equity for sure, it has less than the 2021 book. So there's really no rule of thumb, I think, that I can provide. And I think it probably feels a little too grainy to go book year by book year. But the average is, as I suggested, and the books are going to vary depending on their credit characteristics and the macroeconomic conditions.

And then the last thing I'd say, just on credit overall is just a reminder whether it's a '21 or '22 book, pure activity has remained very elevated, given these books still have a significant amount of embedded equity in them. Just to maybe crystallize that point, new delinquencies in the third quarter, 92% of our news had at least 10% embedded equity, 70% had at least 20% embedded equity. So we're still seeing the impact of embedded equity on the cure activity. And when you put those 2 things together, I think we end up in a place where we characterized in our prepared remarks that we still believe overall credit performance remains very strong through the third quarter.

[Bose George, analyst]

Okay. Great. That's helpful. And then actually, a different topic. How much buy down volume do you guys see in coming through the MI market, the builder product. And is that sort of permanent or temporary? Just curious how much of that's getting MI?

[Rohit Gupta, executive]

Yes. Thanks, Bose. So we have not articulated the overall buy down volume that we see in our new insurance written. We had talked about it in prior quarters. I would say majority of the volume we see is coming from the permanent buy-down product because builders actually have capacity to create a permanent buy-down product or what's called forward commitments. So that product actually is like not a 1- or 2-year buydown, that's a lifetime of loan, fixed rate, and the note rate is essentially lower than the market rate by typically a meaningful amount. So majority of our composition is coming from that product and then a smaller portion within the buy-down product comes from the 1- or 2-year buydowns where the first year might be bought down by 2 points, second year is 1 point, and then it comes back to market rate. And as a reminder, all the products are qualified at the fully indexed rate at the maturity of that buydown ramp-up.

[Bose George, analyst]

Okay. So you expect no real difference -- no expectation -- or different expectation in terms of credit performance of that product?

[Rohit Gupta, executive]

No, we don't Bose and we have modeled that product and looked at historical performance of that product. I know there are some concerns in the market that while the consumers have the note rate bought down, do they actually apply their income and other expenses? We haven't seen that come through in actual credit performance in prior cycles.

[Operator]

The next question comes from Richard Shane of JPMorgan.

[Richard Shane, analyst]

Bose really covered it. But I just want to clarify one thing in terms of the buydowns. So you just commented that historically, you haven't seen a difference in credit performance as buy-downs roll off. I am curious, we're probably just now reaching the point where those 1- and 2-year buydowns are reaching the inflection point in terms of rate. Is there anything on the margin that you're seeing. And again, I think everybody sees that particular product as the edge case in the current environment. And so I'm just curious if you're seeing anything there worth mentioning?

[Rohit Gupta, executive]

Yes. So I'll start off by just as a reminder that as I mentioned in answer to Bose's question, majority of our product coming from that segment. We are broadly calling it buydown, but the builder product is typically not buydown, its forward commitment product. That product is actually a fixed rate product for the life of loan. So, for that product, there's no payment shock coming, right? And then my comment was for the minority of that product, which is temporary buy-downs for those temporary buydowns in the last few years as we have seen. So I would go back to second half 2022. In second half 2022 when rates started going up, the appeal of this product became more in the market. So we have this product starting in the '22 vintage.

So some of that seasoning has already shown up in terms of the rates getting normalized to the fully indexed rate and that product performing in the market. So I would say, at this point of time, we have not seen a performance differential. We look at all attributes, and we still don't see that. But we continue to keep an eye. And if we see any differences show up, then we will make adjustments to our underwriting guidelines.

[Richard Shane, analyst]

Got it. And is the market from a pricing perspective differentiating that product if it's got a temporary buydown.

[Rohit Gupta, executive]

Yes. I'm not going to comment on pricing attributes. As you well know, MI market operates on a black box pricing for majority of the market. And the attributes we use and how we price, whether it's credit attributes, loan attributes or geographies is very key to our commercial strategy and our competitive strategy. So whether we use pricing strategy or guidelines to differentiate in that segment, I think it's not something I'm comfortable talking about on an earnings call.

[Richard Shane, analyst]

Totally understand. Can't [indiscernible] for asking though.

[Rohit Gupta, executive]

Yes, absolutely. What I will say is, in prior calls, we have talked about our mindset broadly on how we think about pricing and credit. So our principle is right price for the right risk. So underlying in that assumption is if we see a risk in that product and any attributes in any ways, we are pricing for it, and we have an ability at a very granular level to deploy that pricing in the market and deliver it to our customers.

And second thing is we always take into account layered risk on loans. So if we believe that we are getting to a point where we have multiple layered risks in the market on a loan attribute that that's something that we are very, very cautious about, and I commented on that percentage in my prepared remarks. So just to give you an example, even during this quarter, we made several pricing changes and specifically targeted price increases on some layered risk and on some geographies. That just gives you a flavor of kind of how we think about pricing and deploying it in the market.

[Operator]

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the call over to Rohit Gupta for any closing remarks.

[Rohit Gupta, executive]

Thank you, Andrea. And thank you, everyone. We appreciate your interest in Enact, and I look forward to seeing you in Miami at JPMorgan's Equity Opportunities Forum on November 13th. Thank you.

[Operator]

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation, and you may now disconnect.