The Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Unchanged in the Week Ending November 29th, 2020

The latest Mortgage Banker Association’s (MBA) Forbearance and Call Survey reports that after two consecutive weeks of increases the total number of loans as of November 29th, 2020, now in forbearance remained unchanged relative to the prior week at 5.54%. According to MBA’s estimate, 2.8 million homeowners are in forbearance plans. The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased slightly to 3.34 percent – a 2-basis-point improvement. Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance increased 6 basis points to 7.89%, and the forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities (PLS) increased by 7 basis points to 8.70%. The percentage of loans in forbearance for independent mortgage bank (IMB) servicers decreased 1 basis point from the previous week to 6.02%, and the percentage of loans in forbearance for depository servicers increased 1 basis point from the previous week to 5.48%. Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist in a prepared statement said, “After two weeks of increases, the share of loans in forbearance was unchanged for the week that included Thanksgiving. A small decline in forbearances for GSE loans was offset by increases for Ginnie Mae and portfolio loans. While new forbearance requests declined for the week, exits slowed to a new low for the series.”