A lower rate of mortgage lending at high loan-to-valuation ratios, reduced first home buyer activity and the expansion of the government’s Home Guarantee Scheme all contributed to a fall in new business for lenders mortgage insurer Helia during the first half of the year. It also suffered an above-average rate of policy cancellations resulting from high levels of mortgage refinancing. The company also reported ongoing low delinquency rates and an “extraordinarily low claims environment”, although it warned that the full impact of interest rates increases will only be felt when the large number of borrowers still on fixed rates roll over to variable rates or refinance. Helia chief executive Pauline Blight-Johnston said the company concentrated on retaining customers and winning new business during the half, to offset the drop in underwriting. It retained all three contracts that were up for renewal during the June half and won a contract for the exclusive provision of LMI to a mutual. The company claims a 34 per cent share of the Australian LMI market. It is also investing in diversification, backing reverse mortgage lender Household Capital, deposit gap funder OSQO and lender Tic:Toc. It did not provide any details on how these investments are progressing. Helia wrote new insurance worth A$6.2 billion during the six months to June – down from $8.9 billion in the December half and $11.2 billion in the June half last year. Gross written premium was $96.6 million – down from $131.4 million in the December 2022 half and $188.6 million in the June half last year. With delinquencies and claims at low levels, the company released $41 million from its claims reserve to provide a credit on incurred claims. This, together with a turnaround in the performance of its investment portfolio, allowed the company to report a higher net profit for the half.  Profit of $147.5 million was up from $143.4 million in the December half and $57.7 million in the June half last year. The number of claims paid during the period was 122, worth $13 million. This was down from 153 claims worth $16.1 million in the December half and 207 claims worth $14.3 million in the June half last year.  The number of mortgagee in possessions was 188 – down from 279 in the December half and 266 in the June half last year. Incurred claims in the June half represented 20.3 per cent of gross insurance revenue. Blight-Johnston said the long-term average claims ratio was 30 per cent. She expected it to return to that level but was wary of making any predictions about timing.