A Week of ‘Strong Forbearance Improvement’

After declining by 5% last week, the number of mortgage loans actively in forbearance dropped again this past week, according to Black Knight, which calls the week of November 3-10 one of "strong forbearance improvement."

"The decline was seen across investor classes and was largely due to the bulk of remaining October expirations being addressed over the past seven days, with some 191,000 homeowners removed from forbearance plans since last week," Black Knight reported.

Forbearance starts dipped to 68,000, the lowest weekly total since early October. New forbearance starts, excluding restarts, marked a pandemic-era low of 31,000, Black Knight reported. Another 98,000 households extended forbearance plans during the past week.

"There have been positive signs so far in November, but with 323,000 active forbearances having recently expired or set to expire in the month, improvement may be somewhat limited in the coming weeks," the researchers said, adding that, "as of November 10, there are 2.74 million homeowners in active forbearance plans, representing approximately 5.2% of all active mortgages, down from 5.4% from last week. Together, they represent $559 billion in unpaid principal."

Percentage of loans, by type, in forbearance plans this past week:

• 3.5% of all GSE-backed loans
• 9.1% of all FHA/VA loans
• 5% of loans in private-label securities or banks’ portfolios

Since last week, portfolio/PLS loans saw the largest weekly decline at -49,000 (-7.1%), while GSE forbearances fell by 45,000 (-4.3%), and FHA/VA loans saw a more modest decline of -27,000 (-2.4%).

Of the 2.74 million loans still in active forbearance, 81% have had their terms extended at some point since March, the report showed.

The full report, methodology, and graphics can be read on the Black Knight blog.