Delinquencies

Meanwhile, National MI has been increasing its new insurance written by slightly widening its credit standards.

But March's overall late payment rate was 1.3 percentage points higher than one year ago, while the 90-day-plus rate was 2.3 percentage points higher.

The four-week high in forbearance exits also helped drive the considerable drop in plans, according to Black Knight.

For the first time since the pandemic began, the share of borrowers who are 30 days or more late on their payment is below 5%, Black Knight found.

The total number of loans in this category dropped 11 basis points from week to week according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Meanwhile, the amount of unpaid balance in forbearance dropped almost 23% since the start of the year, a separate report from Black Knight found.

The persistently slow reduction in the number of borrowers at risk of default indicates that while loan performance overall is improving, a substantial pool of mortgages will need workouts when forbearance ends.

Deals, trends and research in structured finance and asset-backed securities for the week of April 2-8

However, the number of borrowers who failed to remit payment but were not yet 30 days overdue increased.

As an improving job market aided financial stability for borrowers, 2020 ended with drops in delinquent home loans, a CoreLogic report found.

Servicers could be dealing with approximately 1.8 million distressed properties when the latest forbearance extension ends in June, Black Knight said.