According to recent findings posted from Black Knight’s McDash Flash Forbearance Tracker [1], the number of mortgages in active forbearance stayed steady this past week, neither increasing or decreasing in any great way. Specific details released by Black Knight reveals a 15,000 reduction among GSE mortgages offset by a 5,000 rise in FHA forbearances and a 10,000 increase among portfolio/PLS-held loans.
The exact number of American homeowners who are currently in active forbearance (as of August 18, 2020) is just under 4 million (3.9). This amount represents 7.4% of the total of active mortgages currently, which as mentioned before, remained flat from this past week. When totaled, these account for $833 billion in unpaid principal.
Another highlight from the report revealed that 5.4% of all GSE-backed loans and 11.6% of all FHA/VA loans are presently amid forbearance plans. Also in forbearance are 8% of loans in private label securities or banks’ portfolios.
Throughout the last month, the amount of existing active forbearances has dipped by 202,000 (-5%). The loans that experienced the greatest improvement were GSE loans (-130,000, -8%). As for FHA/VA forbearances, those have stayed steady for the most part, with the only shift being a slight decline of 1% (-11,000) throughout the month. Regarding the forbearances among private/portfolio loans, those decreased 67,000 (-6%).
As the world continues to deal with the current pandemic and adjust accordingly, there reportedly is an undeniable amount of uncertainty across the board in all industries—including the housing market. Moving forward, there are a number of factors to consider that will most likely have the greatest impact. One of these factors to keep an eye on especially (apart from the pandemic itself) is the expiration of expanded unemployment benefits, which occurred just this past month.