by Calculated Risk on 9/25/2020 08:00:00 AM

Note: Both Black Knight and the MBA (Mortgage Bankers Association) are putting out weekly estimates of mortgages in forbearance.

This data is as of September 22nd.

From Forbearances Down 24% from Peak

The pace of improvement in the number of mortgages in active forbearance increased this week, as the number of plans fell 95K over the past seven days (-2.6%).

This marks five consecutive weeks of improvement and puts us 24% off the peak in late May – a decline of 1.17M plans since that point.

Click on graph for larger image.

As of September 22, 3.6M homeowers remain in COVID-19-related forbearance plans, or 6.8% of all active mortgages, down from 7% last week. Together, they represent $751 billion in unpaid principal.

Servicers continue to proactively assess September-scheduled forbearance expirations for extensions and removals. As of the 22nd, 1.1M forbearance plans are still set to expire this month, down from 1.7M just last week.
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Over the past month, active forbearance volumes are now down by 9%, with 357k fewer active COVID-19 forbearance plans than at the same time in August. Of the 3.6M loans still in active forbearance, some 78% have had their terms extended at some point since March.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to represent significant uncertainty for the weeks ahead. Black Knight will continue to monitor the situation and report our findings on this blog.
emphasis added