From the MBA: Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases for Fourth Straight Week to 8.18%
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 21 basis points from 8.39% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 8.18% as of July 5, 2020. According to MBA’s estimate, 4.1 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.
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“The share of loans in forbearance continues to decrease, as more workers are brought back from temporary layoffs. However, our survey reveals a notable shift in the location of many FHA and VA loans, which have been bought out of Ginnie Mae pools – predominantly by bank servicers – and moved onto bank balance sheets,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “As a result, there was a sharp drop in the share of Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance, and an offsetting increase in the share of portfolio loans in forbearance. These buyouts enable servicers to stop advancing principal and interest payments, and to work with borrowers in the hope that they can begin paying again before they are re-securitized into Ginnie Mae pools.”Added Fratantoni, “Forty-three percent of loans in forbearance are now in an extension following their initial forbearance term, while more than 10 percent of borrowers entered into a deferral plan to exit forbearance – down from 16 percent the week prior. For those exiting forbearance over the next several months, we expect to see many of the borrowers with GSE loans to utilize the deferral option.”
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.
The MBA notes: “Weekly forbearance requests as a percent of servicing portfolio volume (#) increased to 0.13 percent from 0.12 percent the previous week.”