Active Forbearances Rise Above 2.7M Once Again; Recovery Remains Slow and Steady

Just a few days ago Blackknightinc had reported delinquency rates had continued to barely nudge down.

Viewing delinquency rates by state shows a few areas that have been impacted the greatest by the pandemic. In Mississippi, more than 1 in 10 borrowers are delinquent.

/February Macro


New data from our McDash Flash Forbearance Tracker shows that the last full week of February saw the number of active forbearances climb once again, increasing by 21,000 (+0.8%). With this weekly increase, the number of homeowners in a forbearance plan rose above 2.7 million once again after falling below that threshold for the first time since April 2020 earlier this month.

Portfolio-held and privately securitized mortgages saw the largest weekly forbearance increases, growing by 16,000 (+2.4%), followed by FHA/VA mortgages, which increased by 7,000 (+0.6%). The number of outstanding GSE forbearances fell by 2,000 (-0.2%) from last week.

Despite the weekly increase in active forbearances, the monthly rate of decline remained steady at -2% month-over-month, continuing the trend of very slow but steady improvement.

As of Feb. 23, 2.7 million (5.1% of) homeowners remain in forbearance. This number includes 9.3% of FHA/VA mortgages, 3.2% of GSE mortgages, and 5.2% of portfolio/privately held mortgages. 160,000 forbearance plans are scheduled to expire at the end of February, providing limited incentive for significant declines in forbearance volumes in coming weeks.