Forbearance Numbers Little Changed Over Past Two Weeks

In the wake of a near 200,000 drop in the number of loans in forbearance earlier in July, changes over the last two weeks have been modest. Black Knight says there was only a 1,000 loan reduction in the total number during the week ended July 13 and that was negated by an increase of 2,000 loans this past week. The company says that this mid-month lull in activity has been the norm since the recovery began.

As of July 20, 1.863 million borrowers remain in active forbearance plans. This is 3.5 percent of the estimated 53 million mortgages in servicer portfolios.

Over the last two weeks a net of 4,000 FHA and VA loans exited the program along with 8,000 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (GSE) loans. Those improvements were offset by increases of 4,000 loans serviced for bank portfolio and private label securities two weeks ago and another 9,000 last week.

Restarts were elevated this week, while new forbearance plan volumes continue remain low. Removals held steady week to week and remain on the lower end of the spectrum - as we typically see in the middle of the month - while plan extensions hit the lowest level since late February.

These changes left 574,000 GSE loans in forbearance, 2.1 percent of those portfolios, and 756,000 (6.2 percent) of FHA and VA loans. Portfolio/Pls loans total 533,000 or 4.1 percent.

With the pluses and minuses over the past month, the number of forborne loans has netted a 198,000 or 9.6 percent reduction. Black Knight says around 230,000 plans remain to be reviewed for extension or removal in July, down from an estimated 400,000 last week.