Forbearances Continue on Slowing Downward Track
With only a small fraction of active plans remaining after two years of pandemic-related mortgage forbearance, forbearance plan volumes edged downward at a decelerating rate entering March.
According to our McDash Flash daily mortgage performance dataset, the number of active forbearance plans decreased by 22,400 (-2.8%) this week. Loans in GSE plans led an across-the-board decline, falling 10,500 (-4.3%). Bank portfolio and private label securities (PLS) plans fell 6,300 (-2.4%), followed by FHA/VA plans (5,700, -2%).
As of March 1, 768,000 homeowners remain in COVID-19-related forbearance plans – 1.4% of all active mortgages. The group includes 0.8% of GSE mortgages, 2.3% of FHA/VA and 1.9% of portfolio held and privately securitized mortgages.
Plans are down by 73,300 (-8.7%) from the same time last month as we face an anniversary bump in plan expiration activity. Additional opportunity for improvement remains for next week, with 67,000 plans up for review, a third of which are expected to reach their final expirations.
We will continue to monitor the very latest forbearance data from the McDash Flash dataset and report our findings each week on this blog.
