by Calculated Risk on 1/25/2021 04:00:00 PM

Note: This is as of January 17th.

From the MBA: Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Increases Slightly to 5.38%

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance increased slightly from 5.37% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 5.38% as of January 17, 2021. According to MBA’s estimate, 2.7 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.
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The small increase in the share of loans in forbearance was led by a gain in the portfolio/PLS loan segment. The good news is that the forbearance numbers for GSE loans continues to decline more consistently, as these borrowers typically have stronger credit and more stable employment,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “The rate of exits from forbearance slowed in the prior week, while the rate of new forbearance requests remained steady at a low level.”

Fratantoni added, “The latest housing market data show strong momentum entering 2021, with both the pace of home sales and new construction booming. We expect that this strong market could benefit homeowners who need to sell their home, as record-low inventory is causing for-sale homes to go under contract quickly and is pushing up home prices.”
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the percent of portfolio in forbearance by investor type over time.  Most of the increase was in late March and early April, and has generally been trending down.

The MBA notes: "Weekly forbearance requests as a percent of servicing portfolio volume (#) remained flat relative to the previous two weeks at 0.07 percent."