Forbearance Plan Total Drops Below the Million Mark

Daily tracking data through December 1 shows the number of active forbearance plan totals dropping below 1 million for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

According to our McDash Flash daily forbearance tracking dataset, the number of active forbearance plans fell by 23,000 (-2.3%) this week, led by a 14,000 (-3.9%) drop in FHA/VA loans. Both GSE (-7K/-2%) and PLS/portfolio (-2K/-.6%) plan volumes also improved.

As of November 30, 994,000 mortgage holders (1.9%) remain in COVID-19 related forbearance plans, including 1.1% of GSE, 2.9% of FHA/VA and 2.5% of portfolio held and privately securitized loans.

Overall, the number of forbearance plans is down by 215,000 (-18%) from the same time last month, with the potential for additional improvements as we progress through December. After seeing starts jump before Thanksgiving, they fell to a pandemic low this week.  This week’s low was likely due to the shorter holiday week.

We will continue to monitor the very latest forbearance data from the McDash Flash dataset and report our findings each week on this blog.