Distressed

The change makes it easier for borrowers exiting forbearance to get access to home retention options that might otherwise be out of reach due to skyrocketing home prices.

Fewer borrowers are suspending payments for pandemic hardships but some who got back on track are having trouble again, and deadlines could spur a final round of new requests.

Growing CRE mortgage volumes raised the bar for the coming year despite lingering concerns, according to the CRE Finance Council.

So far companies plan on using roughly the same number of employees as they shift from handling payment suspensions to assessing borrowers who have seen long-term declines in their incomes.

Experts expect only a small uptick in distressed mortgages, either through default or inability to refinance, which will create some opportunity for debt buyers

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.

Issuance of capital market instruments aimed at protecting one government-sponsored enterprise from distressed mortgage credit events staged a relatively quick rebound in 2020, a new Federal Housing Finance Agency report shows.