The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey shows that the percentage of loans now in forbearance increased to 8.53% as of May 31, up from 8.46% a week earlier. This percentage represents almost 4.3 million homeowners.
“The overall share of loans in forbearance increased by only 7 basis points compared to the prior week. With the job market beginning to gradually improve, more homeowners are exiting forbearance, and we are seeing declines in forbearance volume among some servicers,” says Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s senior vice president and chief economist.
“However, this week’s findings did reveal divergence among servicers. The share of loans in forbearance decreased for depository servicers but continued to increase for IMBs,” he says.
Mortgages backed by Ginnie Mae again had the largest overall share of loans in forbearance by investor type (11.83%). The percentage of loans in forbearance for depository servicers dropped by 1 basis point to 9.18%, while the percentage of loans in forbearance for independent mortgage bank (IMB) servicers increased to 8.39%.
The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance increased relative to the prior week: from 6.39% to 6.40%.
