Shares of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Continued to Fall in July but 370,000 Homeowners Remain

According to the new monthly Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Loan Monitoring Survey (LMS), the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 7 basis points, from 0.81% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior month to 0.74% as of July 31, 2022. The MBA estimates that 370,000 homeowners still remain in forbearance plans.

The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased 1 basis points to 0.34%. Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance was unchanged from June, holding steady at 1.26%, and the forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities (PLS) declined 34 basis points to 1.34%.

Commenting on the July forbearance report, Marina Walsh, CMB, MBA’s Vice President of Industry Analysis, said:

“July continued the ongoing trend in recent months of most of the forbearance exits coming from borrowers with portfolio loans and private label security loans. There has been very little change in the forbearance rate for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae loans during the past three months, perhaps indicating that we have reached a floor, with loans entering forbearance about equal to loans exiting forbearance for these loan types.”