A strong year of growth for title insurers in 2025 continued into the first three months of 2026, despite lagging home sales, the American Land Title Association (ALTA) reported Monday.
Carriers generated $4.5 billion in title insurance premiums during the first quarter, an increase of more than 15% year over year.
Meanwhile, insurers only paid $151 million in claims, which is $10 million less than a year ago, or about a 6% decline. For comparison, the industry paid roughly $336 million in claims through the first six months of 2025, previous ALTA reporting indicates.
“The industry’s first-quarter results reflect the continued demand for the critical work title companies perform to identify hidden risks, prevent losses and protect property rights,” said Chris Morton, CEO of ALTA, in a statement.
The title insurance sector is highly concentrated, with the top five individual underwriters accounting for more than 75% of all premiums generated last year and during the first quarter.
First American Title Insurance expanded its dominant position in the sector, growing its first-quarter market share of premiums generated to 24.2% from its 23.1% average market share during all of 2025. Fidelity National Title Insurance recorded 13.9% market share in the first quarter compared to 14.5% averaged over the course of last year.
Meanwhile, Old Republic Title Insurance market share hit 13.7% in the first quarter. Chicago Title Insurance and Stewart Title Insurance rounded out the top five carriers with 12.6% and 11.3% market share, respectively.
Texas, Florida, California, New York and Pennsylvania had the largest volumes of title insurance premiums during the first quarter. More than $627 million in premiums were generated in Texas, while Florida accounted for about $493 million and California claimed nearly $371 million.
