Mortgages in Forbearance Increase Again in Week Ending December 31st, 2020

According to Black Knight, one of the premier providers of integrated technology, data and analytics solutions for lenders and financial businesses, the number of mortgages in active forbearance rose by 15,000 in the week ending on Thursday, December 31st. Although the numbers are up for the third consecutive week, the overall active forbearance rate continues to hold steady at 5.3%, unchanged from past 2-weeks report. Black Knight estimates that 2.83 million homeowners are in some form of forbearance as 2020 ended. Last week’s increase was driven by the share of Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Administration‘s loans in forbearance, which rose from 9.5% to 9.6%. Loans in forbearance as a share of private label securities or banks’ portfolios also rose 10 basis points to 5.4%. While the share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans seemed to teeter back and forth in weeks prior, the GSE’s forbearance portfolio share remained unchanged at 3.5%.