by Calculated Risk on 4/23/2021 08:24:00 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 April 20th.

From Black Knight: Another Week of Forbearance Improvement; 4.4% Of Homeowners Remain in Pandemic-Related Plans

Forbearance volumes improved this week, edging slightly lower since last week. This is typical of the mid-month lulls in improvement we’ve seen throughout the recovery.

Weekly reductions of GSE loans (-6,000) and FHA/VA loans (-5,000) were partially offset by an increase of 9,000 portfolio and privately securitized mortgages in forbearance.

Despite the week’s modest improvement, the number of outstanding plans is down by 298,000 (-11.4%) from the same time last month. As of April 20, there are 2.3 million (4.4% of) mortgage-holders in COVID-19-related forbearance plans, including 2.7% of GSE, 7.8% of FHA/VA and 4.8% of portfolio/PLS loans.

Click on graph for larger image.

Both inflow and outflow were muted this week, with fewer than 160,000 extensions/removals, the lowest such number in two months.

280,000 expirations remain on the books for April, an opportunity for additional improvement through the rest of this month and going into May. There are also 435,000 expirations due in May, and then a big jump to 890,000 due in June. This will mark the last big month for review activity before the first wave of plans reach their 18-month expirations.

Overall start activity continues to trend downward. It will be worth keeping an eye on the numbers going into May as servicers continue to work through their reviews. We’ll have another report published here next Friday, April 30.
emphasis added

The number of loans in forbearance continues to decline.