by Calculated Risk on 4/02/2021 12:09:00 PM

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

This data is as of March 30th.

From Black Knight: Servicers Continue to Work Through Forbearance Plans as U.S. Enters Fifth Consecutive Week of Improvement

The country saw yet another week of forbearance improvement this week, with active plans falling by 33,000 (-1.3%). This marks the fifth consecutive week of improvement and the longest such stretch since September 2020.

Weekly declines were seen across investor classes, with GSE plans down 15,000, FHA/VA plans down 12,000, and plan volumes among portfolio/PLS mortgages falling by 6,000 for the week.

This week’s improvement has pushed the number of active plans down by 172,000 (-6.3%) from last month, the largest such M/M improvement since November 2020. As of March 30, there are now 2.54 million active forbearance plans, representing 4.8% of all active mortgages.

Click on graph for larger image.

As anticipated, these improvements were driven by the large volume of forbearance plan reviews taking place in recent weeks. Entering March, 1.2 million plans were scheduled for review for removal/extension during the month; as of March 30, some 300,000 such scheduled expirations remain, with another 655,000 on tap for April. These numbers suggest we could see continued improvement in coming weeks as servicers continue to review plans with scheduled expirations for removal or extension.

We’ll have another forbearance update published here on this blog next Friday, April 9.
emphasis added

The number of loans in forbearance has slowly declined over the last few months.