Mortgage Forbearances Decline Again, Though Downward Rate Slows

The share of U.S. mortgages in forbearance declined over the past week, signaling an ongoing steady improvement in those numbers, although the rate of decline slowed slightly over earlier weeks.

The number of mortgages in forbearance declined “by 2 basis points from 3.50% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 3.48% as of July 18,” the Mortgage Bankers Association said in a Monday press release.

“As is typical for mid-month reporting, forbearance exits slowed, and there was a slight increase in new requests,” MBA Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni said in the release. “The net result was a small drop in the share of loans in forbearance – the 21st consecutive week of declines.”

The MBA estimates that nearly 1.75 million mortgages in the U.S. are in some form of forbearance.