The share of mortgages remaining in forbearance plans fell to 1.3% as of January 31, but there was some deterioration in the performance of borrowers with existing loan workouts, according the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) monthly Loan Monitoring Survey.
The previous week, the share of loans in forbearance was 1.41%.
The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased 4 basis points to 0.68%.
Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance decreased 3 basis points to 1.6%, and the forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities (PLS) declined 41 basis points to 3.02%.
“For the second straight month, the pace of forbearance exits reached another low since MBA began tracking exits in June 2020,” says Marina Walsh, vice president of industry analysis for the MBA, in the report. “There was also a pick-up in new forbearance requests and re-entries for all loans, and particularly for Ginnie Mae loans. Even though the forbearance rate continued its downward trajectory, it was the smallest monthly decline since January 2021.
“The positive news is that the percentage of borrowers who were current on their mortgage payments increased from December 2021,” Walsh says. “However, there was some deterioration in the performance of borrowers with existing loan workouts. Borrowers in loan workouts may have experienced new life events unrelated to the pandemic, or alternatively, the omicron variant may have triggered or re-triggered employment, health, or other stresses.”
States with the highest share of loans that were current as a percent of servicing portfolio included Idaho, Colorado, Washington, Utah, and Oregon.
States with the lowest share of loans that were current as a percent of servicing portfolio included Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, Indiana, and Illinois.
Total completed loan workouts from 2020 and onward (repayment plans, loan deferrals/partial claims, loan modifications) that were current as a percent of total completed workouts declined to 82.26% last month from 83.50% in December.
Photo: Pierre Bamin
