We saw another week of good news in terms of forbearance volumes, which fell by 61,000 (-2.7%), continuing the strong trend of early-in-the-month improvements. Declines were seen across the board this week, with GSE forbearance volumes falling by 13K (-1.9%), FHA/VA plan volumes improving by 19K (-2.1%) and PLS/portfolio forbearances decreasing by 29K (-4.6%). Total plan starts are down 13% month-over-month, and continue to slowly decline.
Some 250K plans are still listed with May 2021 expiration dates, which will provide a moderate opportunity for additional improvements over the next few weeks, and more acutely in early June. Another 860K plans are currently slated for review for extension/removal next month, the final quarterly review before early forbearance entrants begin to reach their 18-month plan expirations later this year. Thirty-eight percent of loans reviewed for extension/removal over the past month have been removed from forbearance, the highest such removal rate since mid-February
As of May 11, 2.16 million (4.1% of) homeowners remain in COVID-19 related forbearance plans, including 2.5% of GSE loans, 7.3% of FHA/VA loans, and 4.6% of portfolio/PLS loans.
