Number of mortgage forbearances edges up in past week: Black Knight
- Tracking what has become the post-pandemic monthly pattern, the number of mortgages in active forbearance plans edged slightly higher during the past week, rising 11K, according to the Black Knight McDash Flash Forbearance Tracker.
- For the week ended Aug. 17, some 1.75M of borrowers remain in COVID-19-related forbearance plans, including 1.9% of GSE mortgages, 5.8% of FHA/VA and 4.0% of portfolio-held and privately securitized mortgages.
- All of the increase was due to a 12K increase in portfolio/PLS loans, partly offset by a 1K decline in GSE forbearances; FHA/VA plan volumes held steady from the prior week.
- Overall plan volumes have declined 110K, or ~5.9%, from the same time last month.
Source: Black Knight
- Total plans starts increased this week, primarily from re-start activity. New plan starts rose slightly from a week ago, but still remain below the five-week moving average. Plan removals were at their lowest level since late May, mainly because review activity in general was low this past week.
- ~200K plans are currently scheduled for review through the final two weeks of August, with about a third of those reaching their final expiration based on current allowable forbearance term lengths.
- The estimated monthly principal and interest advances on active plans fell to $2.1B in the last week from $2.2B in the previous week.
- Estimated monthly tax and insurance advances on active plans were $0.8B, unchanged from the previous week.
- Mortgage servicers that may be affected by mortgages in forbearance include: New Residential (NYSE:NRZ), Mr. Cooper (NASDAQ:COOP), Ocwen Financial (NYSE:OCN), and PennyMac Financial Services (NYSE:PFSI).