MBA's latest Loan Monitoring Survey reveals a 0.50% forbearance rate
The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) monthly loan monitoring survey revealed an increase in total mortgage loans in forbearance to 0.50% as of November 30, 2024.
The figure represents approximately 250,000 homeowners currently in forbearance plans, part of the 8.5 million borrowers who have received forbearance assistance since March 2020.
The November data shows varied performance across different loan categories. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans experienced a slight increase of one basis point to 0.21%, while Ginnie Mae loans rose by five basis points to 1.11%. Portfolio loans and private-label securities (PLS) demonstrated a marginal decrease of one basis point to 0.42%.
"The overall mortgage forbearance rate increased three basis points in November and has now risen for six consecutive months," said vice president of industry analysis Marina Walsh, CMB.
According to the survey, 51.3% of the borrowers went into forbearance because of short-term issues such as job loss, death, divorce, or disability, and 46.0% attributed it to natural disasters. The number of borrowers remaining in forbearance for COVID-19 reasons stood at 2.8%. Most loans in forbearance (71.4%) are at the plan stage, followed by 16.5% extensions and 12.1% re-entries.
"By investor type, Ginnie Mae loans are showing the greatest variance, with an increase of 72 basis points over the six-month period. That is compared to 11 basis points for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans, and portfolio and PLS loans, respectively,” Walsh added.
There is some weakening in performance of servicing portfolios and loan workouts compared to one year ago, Walsh observed. In the wake of natural disasters and slowing in the labor market, borrowers with government loans tend to be impacted more than conventional borrowers.
Current loans in servicing portfolios are at 95.22%, down 22 basis points from the previous month, October, and down 49 basis points from the prior year.
Washington, Idaho, Alaska, Oregon, and Colorado maintained the highest share of current loans, while Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana, West Virginia, and Alabama reported the lowest percentages.
MBA's Loan Monitoring Survey, representing 62% of the first-mortgage servicing market with 30.9 million loans, revealed ongoing challenges in mortgage performance amid economic uncertainties and natural disasters.
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