by Calculated Risk on 2/12/2021 08:40:00 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 February 9th.

From Black Knight: Forbearance Volumes Fall Below 2.7m For First Time Since April 2020

The latest weekly snapshot of our daily McDash Flash Forbearance Tracker shows the number of homeowners in active forbearance fell by 48,000 this week. As was the case last week, the decline was driven by January month-end forbearance plan expirations.
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As of Feb. 9, 2.67 million (5% of) homeowners remain in forbearance, marking the first time forbearance volumes have fallen below the 2.7 million threshold since early April. Despite this good news, improvement remains muted, with average monthly declines of less than 2% since early December.

Click on graph for larger image.

Also worth noting is the FHFA’s big announcement this week: borrowers in Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac forbearance plans may be eligible for an extension of up to three months, for a potential grand total of 15 months. This will have material impacts on the 907,000 homeowners currently in GSE forbearance plans, about 30% of whom were set to reach their 12-month expirations at the end of March.

Should Ginnie Mae follow suit and also extend FHA/VA forbearance limits to 15 months, at the current rate of improvement there would still be some 2.5 million homeowners in forbearance at the end of June when the first round of plans hit their new 15-month expirations.

emphasis added

The number of loans in forbearance has moved mostly sideways for the last few months.