iStock photo illustration

The share of the nation’s mortgages in forbearance jumped by 73 percent in the latest Mortgage Bankers Association survey.

MBA’s latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey covers the period from March 30 through April 5, 2020, and represents almost 54 percent of the first-mortgage servicing market, or 26.9 million loans.

The total number of loans in forbearance jumped from 2.73 percent to 3.74 percent, week-over-week. For the week of March 2, only 0.25% of all loans were in forbearance.

Mortgages backed by Ginnie Mae showed the largest weekly growth (1.58 percent) and the largest overall share in forbearance requests by investor type (5.89 percent), while independent mortgage bank servicers continue to have a higher share of loans in forbearance (4.17 percent).

The surge in unemployment claims filed since mid-March resulting from the mitigation efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 are straining household budgets and leading to more requests for mortgage forbearance.

“The nationwide shutdown of the economy to slow the spread of COVID-19 continues to create hardships for millions of households, and more are contacting their servicers for relief in accordance with the forbearance provisions under the CARES Act,” MBA Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni said in a statement. “The share of loans in forbearance grew the first week of April, and forbearance requests and call center volume further increased. With mitigation efforts seemingly in place for at least several more weeks, job losses will continue and the number of borrowers asking for forbearance will likely continue to rise at a rapid pace.”