Mortgage insurer Essent Group Ltd. filed to raise up to $287.5 million in an initial public offering of its common stock as the company looks to benefit from a recovering U.S. residential housing market.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said on Sept.4 its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, rose 1.3 percent in the week ended Aug. 30.

Purchase mortgage originations are expected to grow by 23.1 percent to $619 billion between 2012 and 2013, the company said in the filing, citing MBA data. ()

Bermuda-based Essent, which has about 800 customers, reported new insurance written of $10.2 billion for the six months ended June 30.

Mortgage insurers cover losses when homeowners default and foreclosures fail to recoup costs. Typically, coverage is required when homeowners make a downpayment of less than 20 percent on a property.

Essent reported total revenue of $52.6 million and net income of $30.8 million for the six months ended June 30.

Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Securities are lead underwriters to the offering, the company said in the filing on Monday.

The filing did not reveal how many shares the company planned to sell or their expected price.

Essent intends to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "ESNT".

The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.