From Black Knight: More than 3.8 million homeowners are now in forbearance plans
• As of April 30, more than 3.8 million homeowners are now in forbearance plans, representing 7.3% of all active mortgages.
• Together, they account for $841 billion in unpaid principal and includes 6.1% of all GSE-backed loans and 10.5% of all FHA/VA loans.
• At today’s level, mortgage servicers would need to advance a combined $3 billion/month to holders of government-backed mortgage securities on COVID-19-related forbearances. Another $1. 5 billion in lost funds will be faced each month by those with portfolio-held or privately securitized mortgages (some 6.7% of these loans are in forbearance as well).
• Ginnie Mae announced a pass through assistance program through which it will advance principal and interest payments to investors on behalf of servicers, and FHFA announced last week that P&I advance payments will be capped at four months for servicers of GSE-backed mortgages.
• Even so, given today’s number of loans in forbearance (and these numbers are climbing every day), servicers of GSE-backed loans still face nearly $8 billion in advances over that four-month period.