Shares of Mortgages in Forbearance Declined in Week Ending January, 10th 2021

The latest Mortgage Banker Association’s (MBA) Forbearance and Call Survey reports that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased from decreased from 5.46% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 5.37% as of January 10, 2021. According to MBA’s estimate, 2.7 million homeowners are in forbearance plans. The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased to 3.13% – a 6-basis-point improvement. Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance decreased 18 basis points to 7.67%, and the forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities (PLS) decreased by 9 basis points to 8.68%. The percentage of loans in forbearance for independent mortgage bank (IMB) servicers decreased 13 basis points from the previous week to 5.79%, and the percentage of loans in forbearance for depository servicers decreased 6 basis point to 5.33%. Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist in a prepared statement said, “The week of January 10^th saw the largest – and only the second – decrease in the share of loans in forbearance in nine weeks, with declines across almost every tracked loan category. The rate of exits from forbearance has picked up a bit over the past two weeks but remains much lower than what was seen in October and early November.”