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The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance has dropped below 2 percent for the first time since the early days of the pandemic, according to recent data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
The MBA’s Forbearance and Call Volume Survey showed that the total number of loans in forbearance decreased from 3.91 percent of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 3.87 percent as of June 27. The MBA estimates that 1.9 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.
The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased 3 basis points to 1.99 percent. Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance also decreased by 3 basis points to 5.1 percent. The share of portfolio loans and private-label securities in forbearance decreased by 5 basis points to 7.92 percent, and the percentage of loans in forbearance for independent mortgage bank servicers decreased 3 basis points to 4 percent. Depository servicers saw their share decline by 3 basis points to 4.11 percent.
“For the first time since last March, the share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance dropped below 2 percent. The share in every investor type and almost every loan category dropped as well, bringing the number of homeowners in forbearance below 2 million,” Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s senior vice president and chief economist, said in a statement. “The rate of forbearance exits and new forbearance requests remained at low levels, but we expect the pace of exits to increase with reporting next week for the beginning of July.”
Fratantoni added that strong job growth in June should help forbearance numbers improve over the next month.
The CFPB finalized temporary rules last month for mortgage servicers working with borrowers as they exit forbearance.
