Huge Decline in Forbearances, Down 67 Percent From Peak

There was a huge reduction in the number of borrowers in COVID-19 related forbearance plans over the last week as servicers plowed through the remaining plans with August expirations and began processing those with September reviews. Black Knight says a net of 92,000 homeowners exited the program over the week ended September 7, a 5.4 percent decine. The forborne population is now 1.618 million loans, 3.1 percent of the 53 million universe of mortgages. The decline was seen across all investor classes with bank portfolio loans and those serviced for private lable security (PLS) investors decreasing by 40,000 or 7.7 percent. Both the combined Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac category (GSE loans) and the FHA/VA portfolios saw 26,000 borrowers exit, resulting in decreases of 3.8 and 5.1 percent, respectively.