The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) monthly Loan Monitoring Survey revealed the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 39 basis points from 2.06% of servicers' portfolio volume to 1.67% as of November 30, 2021. Currently, there are 835,000 homeowners in forbearance plans.
The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased by 16 basis points to 0.76%, while Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance decreased 42 basis points to 2.10%. The forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities (PLS) declined 106 basis points to 3.94%.
"The share of loans in forbearance in November declined - albeit at a slower pace than October - as borrowers continued to near the expiration of their forbearance plans and moved into permanent loan workout solutions," said Marina Walsh, CMB, MBA's vice president of industry analysis.
Total loans serviced that were current (not delinquent or in foreclosure) as a percent of servicing portfolio volume rose to 94.58% in November from 94.32% in October (on a non-seasonally adjusted basis). 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 83.69% last month from 84.04% in October.
"More borrowers were current on their mortgage payments in November compared to October. This coincides with continued improvement in the labor market - faster wage growth and the unemployment rate dropping to 4.2 percent," said Walsh. "While there was some deterioration in the performance of borrowers in post-forbearance workouts, four out of five overall remained current through November."
By stage, 18.3% of total loans in forbearance are in the initial forbearance plan stage, while 68.4% are in a forbearance extension. The remaining 13.3% are forbearance re-entries, including re-entries with extensions.
The five states with the highest share of loans that were current as a percent of servicing portfolio: Idaho, Washington, Utah, Colorado, and Oregon. Meanwhile, the five states with the lowest share of loans that were current as a percent of servicing portfolio: Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, West Virginia, and Oklahoma.
