Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Inches Lower in May

According to the new monthly Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Loan Monitoring Survey (LMS) released on Tuesday, the total number of loans in forbearance as of May 31st was 0.21% of servicers’ portfolio volume.

MBA estimates that 105,000 homeowners remain in forbearance plans. Mortgage servicers’ have provided forbearance to approximately 8.2 million borrowers since March 2020.

In May, the share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance declined 1 basis point to 0.10%; Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance remained unchanged at 0.39%; and the forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities (PLS) remained unchanged at 0.31%.

Commenting on the May forbearance report, MBA Vice President of Industry Analysis Marina Walsh said:

“The performance of servicing portfolios in May was solid, with about 96 percent of borrowers making their mortgage payments on time. There was a slight decline in the performance of post-forbearance loan workouts, but the results were relatively strong with 75% of homeowners making their payments in accordance with the workout terms.”