MBA Survey: “Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Increases Slightly to 8.55%” of Portfolio Volume

Note: To put these numbers in perspective, the MBA notes “For the week of March 2, only 0.25% of all loans were in forbearance.”

From the MBA: Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Increases Slightly to 8.55%

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance increased from 8.53% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 8.55% as of June 7, 2020. According to MBA’s estimate, almost 4.3 million homeowners are now in forbearance plans.

“MBA’s survey results from the first week of June showed a slight uptick in the overall share of loans in forbearance, but this increase was primarily driven by a larger share of portfolio and PLS loans in forbearance. Half of the servicers in our sample saw the forbearance share decline for at least one investor category,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “Although there continues to be layoffs, the job market does appear to be improving, and this is likely leading to many borrowers in forbearance deciding to opt out of their plan.”

Added Fratantoni, “With June mortgage payments due, servicers did report the first increase in forbearance requests in two months. The level of forbearance requests is still quite low, but there was a noticeable increase in call volume over the course of the week.”
emphasis added

MBA Forbearance Survey 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: “Forbearance requests as a percent of servicing portfolio volume (#) increased across all investor types for the first time since the week of March 30-April 5: from 0.17% to 0.19%.”