by Calculated Risk on 2/22/2021 04:44:00 PM

Note: This is as of February 14th.

From the MBA: Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Declines to 5.22%

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 7 basis points from 5.29% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 5.22% as of February 14, 2021. According to MBA’s estimate, 2.6 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.
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“The share of loans in forbearance has declined for three weeks in a row, with portfolio and PLS loans decreasing the most this week. This decline was due to a sharp increase in borrower exits, particularly for IMB servicers,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “Requests for new forbearances dropped to 6 basis points, matching a survey low.”

Fratantoni added, “The housing market is quite strong, with home sales, home construction, and home price data all testifying to this strength. Policymakers and the mortgage industry have helped enable this during the pandemic by providing millions of homeowners support in the form of forbearance. The decision to extend the allowable duration of forbearance plans should provide for a smoother transition this year as the job market continues to recover.” 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, then trended down - and has mostly moved slowly down recently.

The MBA notes: "Total weekly forbearance requests as a percent of servicing portfolio volume (#) decreased relative to the prior week: from 0.07% to 0.06%."