Helia - the dominant force in lenders mortgage insurance – has chosen to manage the headwinds of the slump in demand for mortgage finance by paying its shareholders a special dividend of 41 cents. Formerly known as Genworth, Helia reported gross written premium over the year to December 2022 of A$320 million, way down from $550 million in FY2021. For now, asset quality and earnings are under control. Helia produced an underwriting result over the year to December of $288 million, up from $238 million in FY2021. Housing prices may have been in decline around Australia last year, but Helia’s delinquency rate is in the best shape it’s been in years, at 0.47 per cent in FY2022, down five bps over a year and down 11 bps over two years. As at December 2022, Helia had more than 976,000 policies in-force, with insurance in-force of $277 billion. CEO Pauline Blight-Johnston wrote in the annual report that the slump in GWP “reflected the subdued LMI market conditions for new lending and in particular high LVR lending. “After a relatively benign period, we expect to see increasing delinquencies and claims.”