Forbearances rose slightly again as late-month new plans and restarts offset early-month exits, according to Black Knight’s blog, Vision.
Overall, forbearances rose by 3,700. Forborne loans held by portfolios and PSLs increased by 5,300 (2.1%). FHA/VA loans remained unchanged, while GSE plans fell by 1,800 (0.8%).
New plan starts dropped to 10,100, the lowest level in four months. Restarts fell by 11,500 to 20,200.
Plan volume is down 40,000 (-5.1%) month-over-month.
Forbearance volumes have ticked up some after long periods of decline, but are generally improving as the country recovers from the pandemic. The number of homeowners with existing loan workouts who were current on their payments rose in February for the first time since June 2021.
“We can credit several factors to the improved performance, including the availability of viable loss mitigation options, low unemployment that is now below 4.0 percent, strong wage growth, and rising home equity,” said Marina Walsh, CMB, MBA’s Vice President of Industry Analysis.
Some 80,000 plans are up for review in April, the next time Black Knight expects to see significant improvement. One-third should expire.
The total number of mortgage holders in Covid-19 related forbearance is now 747,000, or 1.4% of all mortgages.
- Share of FHA/VA loans in forbearance: 2.2% (unchanged)
- Share of GSE loans: 0.8% (unchanged)
- Share of Portfolio-held and PSL: 2% (+0.1%)