Early April Dip Keeps Forbearance Exits on Pace

Andy Walden

Forbearance plan volumes dropped below 700,000 for the first time since the start of the pandemic, falling 63,200 in the first week of April, on trend with an established pattern of early month exits.

According to our McDash Flash daily mortgage performance dataset, the number of active forbearance plans decreased across the board. GSE plans led the way with a drop of 24,500 (-11%), followed by a 21,700 (-8.1%) decline in FHA/VA plans and a 17,000 (-6.7%) dip in loans held in bank portfolios and private label securities (PLS).

New plan starts edged slightly higher, to 10,300. Restarts increased by 1,400 to 21,600.

As of April 5, 684,000 homeowners remain in COVID-19-related forbearance plans – 1.3% of all active mortgages. The group includes 0.7% of GSE mortgages, 2.0% of FHA/VA and 1.8% of portfolio held and privately securitized mortgages.

Plans are down by 66,200 (-8.8%) from the same time last month. The next opportunity for meaningful improvement will come in early May, as nearly 170,000 plans with an April expiration date are scheduled for review, with more than a quarter expected to be reaching their final expirations.