Forbearance Plan Volumes Edge Higher Mid-Month

Forbearance plan volumes ticked up slightly in mid-April, following the typical mid-month pattern.

According to our McDash Flash daily mortgage performance dataset, the number of active forbearance plans increased 11,500 (+1.7%). Volumes increased across the board. Loans held in bank portfolios and private label securities (PLS) led with an uptick of 9,200 (+4%), followed by GSE plans (1,400, +0.7) and FHA/VA plans (900, +0.4%).

New plan starts moderated from the previous week’s rise, dipping 400, to a total of 10,100. Restarts decreased by 1,800 to 26,100.

As of April 19, 688,000 mortgage holders remain in COVID-19-related forbearance plans – 1.3% of all active mortgages. The group includes 0.7% of GSE mortgages, 2.1% of FHA/VA and 1.8% of portfolio held and privately securitized mortgages.

Plans are down by 52,600 (-7.1%) from the same time last month. The next opportunity for meaningful improvement will come in early May, as around 98,000 plans are scheduled for review, with more than a third expected to be reaching their final expirations.

With more than 90% of the 8.1 million homeowners who sought forbearance protection having exited those plans, Black Knight will be wrapping up our weekly Forbearance Tracker report at the end of April. We will continue to monitor the very latest forbearance data from the McDash Flash dataset and report our findings monthly in our Mortgage Monitor Report.