Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia has posted a 29.7% decline in net profit for last year, as gross written premium (GWP) took a hit from more stringent lending requirements.

Net profit was $228 million, with GWP down 20% to $507.6 million. The combined operating ratio deteriorated to 50.2% from 45.5% in 2014.

“High loan-to-value-ratio lending as a proportion of total mortgage originations has reduced recently in response to tightened lender risk appetite,” CEO Georgette Nicholas said.

“We expect this to lead to a lower level of new insurance written [this year].”

The loss ratio weakened to 24% from 19%, although it performed better than management’s expectations of 25-30%.

New insurance written fell 9.9% to $32.6 billion.

“The high [loan-to-value] market continues to be constrained [this year] and we expect GWP to decline by about 20% due to these market conditions,” the company says.

Genworth expects the mortgage market to remain strong, although property prices will probably moderate from levels seen last year.

The lenders’ mortgage insurance specialist estimates it has about 39% share of the Australian market based on new insurance written last year.