Friday, July 10, 2020 / by Erik Bjorklund
Forbearances Drift Lower for Second Week in a Row
The
number of homeowners with mortgages in forbearance has fallen for the second
consecutive week. Black Knight reports that, as of June 9, there were 4.66
million active COVID-19 related forbearance plans. This is 77,000 fewer than
the previous week and down by 112,000 homeowners at the May 22 peak. The
current number represents $1,03 billion in unpaid principal balances. Servicers
now have 8.8 percent of their total portfolios in plans, down from 8.9 percent
the previous week. This breaks down to 7.0 percent of all Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac (GSE) guaranteed mortgages and 12.2 percent of FHA/VA loans. Loans
serviced for the GSEs saw the greatest reduction, with plans declining by 47,000
week-over-week to 1.95 million loans with an unpaid balance of $411 billion.
The number of FHA/VA loans fell from 1,491
million to 1.478 million. After rising last week, the number of plans among
those loans serviced for others (portfolio loans, private label securities)
also declined, from 1,247 million to 1.232 million, 9.5 percent of those
portfolios.
