The latest data from the McDash Flash Forbearance Tracker shows that forbearance volumes have essentially flattened, and in fact new inflows have slowed to a relative trickle.
While the leveling off of active forbearance volumes is welcome news, the focus of industry participants – especially servicers and mortgage investors – is already shifting from pipeline growth to pipeline management.
Black Knight has been tracking loan-level forbearance data via our McDash Flash daily data set to provide the timeliest view of the impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. mortgage market.
As of May 26, 4.76 million homeowners are in forbearance plans, with a net increase of just 7,000 new forbearance plans since last week. That’s in comparison to a 325,000 net increase in the first week of May, and 1.4 million in the first week of April.
Together, the 4.76 million represent 9% of all active mortgages and more than $1 trillion in unpaid principal. Some 7.2% of all GSE-backed loans and 12.6% of all FHA/VA loans are currently in forbearance plans.
At today’s level, mortgage servicers need to advance a combined $3.6 billion/month to holders of government-backed mortgage securities on COVID-19-related forbearances. That’s on top of the $1.5 billion in T&I payments they must make on behalf of borrowers.
Reminder: P&I advance payments have been capped at four months for servicers of GSE-backed mortgages. Given today’s number of loans in forbearance, servicers of GSE-backed loans still face up to $8.8 billion in advances over that four-month period.
Black Knight will continue to provide weekly McDash Flash Forbearance Tracker updates via this blog. Those interested in staying up-to-date on industry developments are encouraged to visit the blog for more information in the coming days and weeks.