Number of mortgages in active forbearance declines for fourth straight week

The number of mortgages in active forbearance declined by 26K, or 0.7%, in this week, in the fourth straight week of improvement, according to Black Knight's McDash Flash Mortgage Forbearance Tracker.

As of Sept. 15, just under 3.7M homeowners remain in COVID-19-related forbearance plans, representing 7% of the active mortgage universe, unchanged from last week.

Still, that's down 22% from the peak of more than 4.7M in late May.

Represents $781B in unpaid principal vs. $789B in the previous week.

For a large number of forbearance plans, September mortgage payments are the last payment covered under the plan; so the number of removals/extensions could increase significantly over the next few weeks, Black Knight says.

The estimated monthly principal & interest advances on active forbearance plans is $4.5B, down from $4.6B in the prior week.

Estimated monthly tax & insurance advances on those plans are $1.6B vs. $1.7B a week earlier.