Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reported today that net income for the six month period ended June 30, 2014 was $841 million, up 2.1% ($17 million) from the same period last year. The increase is mainly attributable to higher earnings from investments and lower insurance claims losses, both a result of improved economic conditions.

At the end of the second quarter of 2014, our total insurance-in-force was down $6 billion from December 31, 2013, standing at $551 billion. We expect insurance-in-force to decline to approximately $545 billion by year-end as mortgage repayments continue to offset new insurance written.

As a result of lower portfolio insurance volumes, our total insured volumes ($) for the first six months of 2014 were approximately 13.3% lower when compared to the same period in 2013.

For transactional homeowner loans, the average credit score for loans insured in the six month period ended June 30, 2014, was 745 while the average gross debt service (GDS) ratio for the same period of time was 25.7%. The high average credit score and average GDS ratio demonstrates a strong ability among homebuyers with CMHC-insured mortgages to manage their debts.

The strength of our mortgage insurance portfolio is further demonstrated by the overall arrears rate of 0.33% at June 30, 2014, which is a slight decrease from 0.35% registered at the end of the previous quarter. Our arrears rates have remained stable over the past several years.

Our guarantees-in-force totalled $402 billion as at June 30, 2014, a $4 billion increase from year-end 2013. For the first six months of 2014, we granted a total of $46.9 billion in new guarantees.