Active forbearance plans fell by 29,000 plans (-4%) last week, according to Black Knight’s blog, Vision.
Forborne loans held by portfolios and PSL dropped 22,000 (-8%), while GSE plans fell by 8,000 (-2%). FHA/VA loans in forbearance fell by 1,000 (0.4%).
After falling last week, restarts once again rose while new plan starts remained the same.
Plan volumes are down 18,000 (-2%) month-over-month. Black Knight notes that as many homeowners have already exited their plans, expiration activity will slow. Moderating improvement is the result of this “gradually flattening slope.”
Some 150,000 plans are up for review in the coming weeks, with a third expected to expire.
In a recent webinar, RealtyTrac EVP Rick Sharga and Mortgage Policy Advisors Managing Director and Five Star Global Chairman Ed Delgado predicted 2022 would look much like 2021, with low rates of new forbearance plans and serious delinquencies.
“The presumption at the start of the pandemic was that there was going to be this gradual swelling of foreclosures, as forbearances expired and consumers had nowhere to go,” said Delgado. This narrative never played out.
“I look to the low number of new delinquencies, as being very positive,” Sharga added. “It speaks to the quality of loans entering and exiting the system.”
The total number of mortgage holders in Covid-19 related forbearance is now 761,000, or 1.4% of all mortgages. More than 90% of single-family homeowners who entered Covid-related forbearance have now exited their plans.
- Share of FHA/VA loans in forbearance: 2.3% (unchanged)
- Share of GSE loans: 0.9% (unchanged)
- Share of Portfolio-held and PSL: 2.9% (-0.1%)